In today’s diverse and evolving workplaces, the balance between dress code policies and employee self-expression can raise complex legal and human rights issues.
To that end, a tiny rainbow sticker was at the centre of a recent Ontario Human Rights Tribunal (OHRT) case that helps make the line between discrimination and fair practice a little clearer.
“There are various ways employees wish to express [themselves] in the workplace, and there are also various ways that employees and workers self-express in a way that’s tied to a Code-based identity,” says Shannon Sproule, employment lawyer at Turnpenny Milne in Toronto.