The Complainant appealed the decision made by the Yukon Human Rights Board of Adjudication (“the Board”) in the case March v Yukon Government. The appeal was brought to the Supreme Court of Yukon (“the Court”).
The main argument brought forth in this appeal was the following. When making the decision, the Board mostly focused on the Respondent’s attempts to accommodate the Complainant. However, the Complainant argued that as per the Yukon Human Rights Act (“the Act”), once a person with mental disabilities is treated unfavourably by their employer, it should be presumed that there is workplace discrimination.
The Court emphasized that just because the Complainant had disability did not mean that the Respondent could not address workplace misconduct. In order to find discrimination, there needed to be a causal connection between the Respondent’s actions and the Complainant’s disability. There was no discrimination in this case. Therefore, the Court concluded that even if the Board approached the case from wrong starting point, the result of the case was still the same. The Supreme Court of Yukon dismissed the appeal.