September 13, 1990 - Religious protections - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Canada’s Supreme Court expands religious protections. Easter Monday is an important religious day for members of the Worldwide Church of God. So one of those members, Jim Christie, felt it was reasonable to ask his employer, Central Alberta Dairy Pool at their milk processing plant in Wetaskiwin, Alberta, for an unpaid leave of absence to observe that day. In fact, his religion recognizes a Saturday Sabbath, a five-day Fall Feast of the Tabernacle and five other holy days during the year – one of them being Easter Monday. His supervisor had previously agreed to an early shift on Fridays to avoid the start of the Sabbath at sunset. In 1983, he asked for a leave of absence on Tuesday, March 29th and Easter Monday, April 4th. His employer granted him the Tuesday, but not the Easter Monday, even when he said he would work an alternate day instead. As a milk processing plant, the company receives milk seven days a week, and to avoid spoilage, it must can any milk from the weekend on Monday. As well, the firm pointed out, Easter Monday is a busy shipping day. Christie was told that if he didn’t show up for work, he would be fired, which is exactly what happened. Christie filed a complaint, and his case went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. On September 13, 1990, the court ruled in Christie’s favour, overturning one of its own earlier decisions in the process. Thanks to Christie, the court required employers to expand protections available to religious employees. Employers, the court specified, must accommodate religious beliefs to the point of “undue hardship” which may include, but is not limited to cost, disruption of a collective agreement, problems with morale of other employees, and the size of the operation.

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