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File Name: A complaint of Dexter Halliday against Michelin North America (Canada) Ltd. ("Michelin") / and in the Matter of the Respondent's Motion for Non-suit. Date of Decisions: 2006 Area(s): Employment Characteristic(s): Disability Complaint: Dexter Halliday alleged that Michelin did not accommodate his mental disabilities and fired him because of work absences. Decision: The Board found that Michelin did not discriminate against Mr. Halliday because it had accommodated his disability to the point of undue hardship. Motion for non-suit Michelin asked the Board of Inquiry not to proceed with hearing this complaint, because they said Mr. Halliday had not established that he had a disability. The Board of Inquiry determined that he had established he had a disability, an anxiety disorder, and denied Michelin's request. Duty to Accommodate and Undue Hardship An employer has a duty to reasonably accommodate an employee with a disability. This includes making inquiries about the disability. Although the employee can make suggestions about accommodations, he or she not expected to come up with the solution. The employer must accommodate the disabled worker to the point of undue hardship. The Board found that Michelin did (through its medical doctors) make inquiries to Mr. Halliday's doctor – and that doctor was vague about anxiety-related illness. The Board found that Michelin accommodated Mr. Halliday's absences from work for over a year, and this caused problems for Michelin (poor worker morale in his unit). The Board found that, when Mr. Halliday was going to return to work after a long absence, Michelin looked at many possibilities of work to accommodate him. Michelin considered suggestions by Mr. Halliday and his doctor, but did not accept them (they would have involved removing others from jobs, or putting Mr. Halliday positions he did not have the skills for). The Board found that those solutions would have caused Michelin undue hardship. The Board further found that, when Michelin needed a firmer diagnosis/treatment plan, they were not given this information. This made it impossible for Michelin to accommodate him. Remedy: There was no discrimination and therefore no remedy was ordered.