Suffered series of injuries in short period
A series of injuries left an Alberta chicken processing plant worker unable to climb more than five steps at a time. To accommodate her, the employer allowed the woman to use the office lunchroom — instead of the employee lunchroom — because it was on a lower level in the plant.
Shukri Mohamud was hired by Sofina Foods in 2010 as a packaging worker.
From October 2014 to January 2015, Mohamud suffered four injuries at the plant, including being involved in a car accident in the parking lot when the car she was in was hit by another car as she was being driven back to the office from a physiotherapy appointment.
Mohamud was at first slotted into a temporary position performing kidney and carcass checks.
On April 3, 2015, she provided a functional abilities form — filled out by her family doctor — that said: “Four hours standing and four hours sitting. Patient has issues with repetitive movements. No use of knife. Standing one hour at stretch. Prolonged standing or sitting provokes pain.”
The form also placed restrictions on the number of steps Mohamud could climb at any one time. Initially, the form restricted her movement to five to 10 steps, but it was changed to more than 20 steps. Eventually, a July 28 form prepared by her family doctor stood firm on the five-to10-steps limit.
She was provided with a few other positions during this period, again to accommodate her injuries. Mohamud was taken off the kidney and carcass detail due to other employees requiring accommodation. The job was eventually automated by the company, meaning no workers were able to access it moving forward.
A return-to-work plan was prepared on July 21 and it stated she would be back on the job the following day.
Mohamud refused to sign the form because she would have had to walk up a set of 27 stairs to get to the employee lunchroom during break times. Sofina began to make use of the office lunchroom for various meetings on a regular basis, meaning employees could no longer rely upon it for accommodation purposes.
Mohamud did not return to the plant and has remained off work since that time.
The employer relied upon an assessment of Mohamud done by the Canadian Back Institute, which had been treating her with physiotherapy since her last injury. It stated she could climb as many as 30 steps at a time.
The union, United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401, filed a grievance on Aug. 20, alleging the company refused to properly accommodate Mohamud and it asked for damages of $10,000, and said the employer breached her human rights.
The company sent Mohamud another letter on Sept. 16, 2015, that said: “We are unable to accommodate your request for modified duties at this time as you are unable to climb the stairs in order to enter the plant floor. Both plant entrances from either the main office or employee entrance have staircases greater than your five-step restriction at this time.”
Arbitrator Dev Chankasingh dismissed the grievance. “The union has not established a prima facie case of discrimination on the basis of physical disability since it has not shown that Mohamud’s knee injury restricted her from climbing the stairs to the employee lunchroom as at July 28, 2015, or thereafter. In addition, in the event that the union had established a prima facie case of discrimination on the basis of physical disability, the employer reasonably accommodated Mohamud’s stair-climbing restriction to the point of undue hardship.”
The number of steps in the plant would simply not allow for Mohamud to successfully go back to work at the plant in any capacity, according to Chankasingh.
“That in effect makes the Mohamud’s return to work impossible since she is required to climb six steps (five stairs) from the plant floor to the office lunchroom if she is allowed to use that lunchroom.”
Reference: Sofina Foods and United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401. Dev Chankasingh — arbitrator. Keith Murray for the employer. Katrina Piechotta for the employee. June 20, 2017.
