AODA audit blitz for retail organizations

The Accessibility Directorate of Ontario is more keenly intent on working with businesses to ensure compliance and will use financial penalties as a last resort. The Accessibility Directorate of Ontario uses what is a called a Compliance Assurance Framework or CAF as its template for retrieving accessibility information and levying response criteria. It is not within the mandate of the CAF to enforce financial penalties for non-compliance, rather, more positively; it can be seen as capacity building framework. That being said there are a fairly intensive criteria that has to be met and resting on ones laurels expecting that everything will be copasetic after zero input into an accessibility profile will result in penalties.

This round of audits will be focusing on customer service which has been in place since 2012 and for those businesses that have really taken off with the idea of providing accessible customer service it will be a time for you to shine. Hypothetically, although, If you were to receive a document that suggests that your business is required to verify information by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario; it is important to remember that this differs from typical audits that are the result of sloppy book keeping or being suspected of laundering money through your cousin’s car wash. This is tantamount to a systems audit in which the government will look for verification that your business is providing accessibility considerations to customers, in policy structures, through information and communication, transportation or employment measures. This is the general feel for the current “blitz”, although, this could change in future investigations. What is important is that there is no need to run to the hills or burry your head. And maybe, just maybe, we can see the end of missives that predict doom and gloom for not following instructions on preparing for the apocalypse.

Is your company ready for an AODA audit?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 or sandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

January 2016 accessibility requirements need attention now

If your organization operates in Ontario, you know about the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its five broad standards, but are you ready for the new requirements in effect January 1?

More accessibility enforcement coming?

While there have been delays in enforcement, the government has committed to increasing its efforts and started its first accessibility blitz of large retailers. We can’t be sure what the government’s enforcement efforts will look like in 2016, but I’d wager we will at the very least see more blitzes and more administrative penalties for failure to file accessibility reports.

Read more about the administrative penalties in Suzanne Cohen Share’s post, “AODA administrative monetary penalties scheme – three strikes you’re out!”

Get ready for the upcoming AODA deadlines today

How are you managing the new accessibility standards?

Have you updated your policies and procedures to incorporate these new requirements?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

January 2016 accessibility requirements need attention now

If your organization operates in Ontario, you know about the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) and its five broad standards, but are you ready for the new requirements in effect January 1?

On January 1, 2016, organizations with 50+ employees must be ready to:

·       Communicate and provide information in accessible formats and with supports, upon request, in a timely manner and at a cost equal to the regular cost charged to others, including emergency and public safety information

·       Provide accessible workplace information to employees with disabilities, as necessary or upon request, including information about emergency workplace procedures

·       Ensure your human resources practices explicitly consider accessibility issues in workplace recruitment, accommodation, performance management, training, career development and return-to-work processes

·       The latter requirement includes developing individualized written accommodation plans for employees with disabilities

Organizations with 1 to 49 employees must be ready to:

·       Ensure all employees have received training relevant to their jobs on the duty to accommodate persons with disabilities under the Human Rights Code and AODA Integrated Accessibility Standards (information, communications, employment, transportation and the design of public spaces)

·       Provide upon request accessible formats and communication supports in all feedback processes

·       Notify the public about the availability of these accessible feedback processes

 

Do you know how far toward compliance your company is?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

A Canadians with Disabilities Act would be great wouldn’t it?

Even before the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, there was real thought being put into the potential development of a Canadians with Disabilities Act. It began with the structuring of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities and has found its permanence with other large scale developments such as the development of UN policy and focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities.

The real question is what would it look like? Would it be a federal precept of what already exists in Ontario? Would be it a tool cut from a similar cloth as the Canadian Human Commission? A paper was published in 2010 by the Canadian Disability Policy Alliance (1) on the subject of the validity of a Canadians with Disabilities Act. In it, there is thorough examination of Canadian disability policy within federal programs, legislation and services. The arguments against a federal act that are summarized within the paper are based on the fact that Canada already has a robust framework for evolving human rights and anti-discrimination (2). Granted, Canada did not sign the UN Optional protocol and it already has systems in place to hear complaints and launch investigations at the provincial and federal level.

What would you like to see in the Canadian Disabilities Act?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 or sandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca

AODA—Preparing Your Business For Compliance

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, (AODA) requires phased-in compliance by public and private organizations, with five sets of mandatory standards to ensure that Ontarians with disabilities are able to obtain full access to goods, services, accommodations, employment, buildings and premises
Looking forward, organizations will be required to train employees, volunteers, persons who participate in developing the organization's policies, and other persons who provide goods, services or facilities on behalf of the organization on both the accessibility standards and the Human Rights Code of Ontario. Large organizations will have until January 1, 2015, to meet the training requirements, whereas small organizations will have until January 1, 2016.
The majority of the remaining obligations under the Employment Standard, the Information and Communications Standard and the Transportation Standard will not become binding on private sector organizations with 50 or more employees until 2016 and private sector organizations with fewer than 50 employees until 2017.

Conclusion

Compliance with the AODA and the various applicable standards is mandatory and failure to comply may lead to fines. Moreover, compliance with the obligations under AODA can be relevant to other matters arising in the human rights sphere. For example, in 2012 the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered a business to produce evidence and records of employee training under the Customer Service Standard in the context of a human rights complaint.¹
To prepare for the additional compliance requirements, employers should familiarize themselves with the general requirements under the Integrated Standards and be ready to implement any additional specific requirements that apply to them.

Do you know how far toward compliance your company is?

If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca