NEW AODA COMPLIANCE OBLIGATIONS FOR SMALL EMPLOYERS

The start of the new year brought with it new compliance standards under the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulations of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (“AODA”). As of January 1, 2017, small organizations will have to ensure that they comply with the applicable provisions of the Accessible Employment Standards, which focus on the recruitment and ongoing support of employees with disabilities.

 

Small Organization Compliance with the Information and Communications Standards

January 1, 2017, was also the deadline for small organizations to comply with the Information and Communications Standards, which establishes processes that organizations must follow to ensure that the manner in which they create, provide and receive information and communicate with other entities is accessible to people with disabilities.

Small organizations that have a mechanism for receiving and responding to customer feedback should also take note of this standard because accessible formats and communication supports for such mechanisms must be communicated to the public and made available for use upon request. Small organizations must consult with the person making the request in order to determine what a suitable format or communication support may be in their particular circumstance.

Furthermore, small organization that have developed emergency procedures, plans or public safety information that they have made available to the public generally must ensure that such information is provided in an accessible format with appropriate communication supports if requested to do so.

The Information and Communications Standards do not generally apply to product labels, unconvertible information, and information that an organization does not control. If a person requests that information or a communication be made available to them in an accessible format and it cannot be converted because doing so is either not feasible or the technology to do convert it is not readily available, the organization must inform the person why the request cannot be fulfilled and provide them with a summary of the information or communication.

What are some unique issues that small organization have to deal with in terms of accessibility?

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