HIV/AIDS in the courts--Canada. Court affirms that severance exclusion for workers with disabilities violates Charter

The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision declaring a severance provision of the provincial Employment Standards Act (the Act) to be unconstitutional. Section 58(5)(c) of the Act, which denies severance pay to employees whose jobs are terminated due to illness or injury, was found to be of no force and effect by the Ontario Divisional Court in January 2004. On 4 May 2005, the Court of Appeal affirmed that the provision contravenes section 15(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.