Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities

• Author: Paul Wearing
• Pages: 105-107

•105

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities

What You Should Know

The Accessibility for Ontarians With Disabilities Act, 20051 was passed

to establish accessibility standards for the disabled in information, com-

munications, transportation, and employment. The law mandates that

employers develop, implement, and maintain accessibility plans outlining

strategies to prevent and remove barriers to accessibility, and that they

post the plan on the business website, if any, provide the plan in an ac-

cessible format upon request, and update the plan once every f‌ive years.

Employers must also provide training to employees on the requirements

of accessibility standards and on the Ontario Human Rights Code2 as it

pertains to persons with disabilities.

Compliance deadlines were phased in according to the size of an employer’s

workforce. Private sector employers with more than f‌ifty employees and

public sector employers with fewer than f‌ifty employees had to comply

by 1 January 2014, while private sector employers with fewer than f‌ifty

employees had to comply by 1 January 2015.

A regulation under the law addresses employment standards for ac-

cessibility and mandates compliance for public sector employers with

fewer than f‌ifty employees by 1 January 2015, compliance for private

sector employers with more than f‌ifty employees by 1 January 2016, and

compliance for private sector employers with fewer than f‌ifty employees

by 1 January 2017.3 The following are selected highlights of the regulation: