In Canadian workplaces, the duty to accommodate ensures that employees with disabilities, including those related to mental health, can participate fully and equitably. But many employers don’t always recognize that accommodation has two components: the procedural duty, which includes the duty to inquire, and the substantive duty, where actual accommodation measures are implemented.1
Understanding how these duties operate in the context of mental health is essential. Understanding how to have safe, supportive, stigma-free conversations is even more essential.
This is where mental health training becomes not just helpful, but foundational.
The Procedural Component: Understanding the Duty to Inquire
The procedural component requires employers to take steps to understand an employee’s disability-related needs. In the words of the reference document, employers “have a duty to inquire about the disability-related needs of the employee,” even when the employee has not requested accommodation.
This duty arises in two common scenarios:
Scenario 1: The Employee Identifies Their Challenges
Sometimes an employee comes forward with an accommodation request, saying they’re struggling. Even then, employers must gather the information needed to understand how the employee’s needs affect their work, while still protecting privacy.
Employees may hesitate because medical information is deeply personal, and they may fear stigma or negative repercussions. Creating a psychologically safe culture around the accommodation process helps reduce this hesitation.
Scenario 2: The Employer Notices a Change and Must Inquire
The duty to inquire also applies when the employer “suspects, or should suspect,” that a disability could be affecting performance – especially when mental illness makes it difficult for individuals to recognize or communicate their needs.
The referenced guidance explains that this inquiry must occur before performance management or disciplinary action is taken. It also recommends approaching employees using factual observations such as:
- “I’ve noticed that you don’t seem to be yourself lately. Is there anything you’d like to talk about?”
- “Your productivity numbers have fallen recently. I want you to be successful. Is there anything I can do to help you?”
These examples align directly with the type of stigma-free, supportive conversations that mental health training prepares leaders to have.
In Mental Health Contexts, the Duty to Inquire = The Duty to Have a Safe, Brave Conversation
What makes mental health unique is that symptoms are often invisible. An employee may not understand their condition, may be reluctant to discuss it, or may fear being judged. This is why the duty to inquire, in practice, becomes the duty to engage in a conversation that is:
- grounded in non-judgment and curiosity
- respectful of privacy
- informed, not assumptive
- focused on behaviour and observable changes
- supportive rather than diagnostic
This requires skill, and not all leaders have been trained to navigate these moments.
This is one of the key reasons mental health training is essential.
How Opening Minds Training Strengthens Culture and Capacity
Culture Support: The Working Mind (TWM)
TWM helps build a psychologically healthy and safe culture by increasing mental health literacy, reducing stigma, and giving everyone a shared tool, the Mental Health Continuum, to identify changes early and talk about them openly.
This directly supports the procedural duty by making conversations about mental health feel normal rather than exceptional.
Conversation Capacity: Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)
MHFA equips employees and leaders to:
- recognize signs of a mental health problem
- approach someone safely and non-judgmentally
- engage in supportive conversations
- provide immediate assistance
- encourage appropriate professional help
These are the precise skills needed to navigate the duty to inquire with sensitivity, respect, and confidence.
Together, TWM and MHFA give organizations both the culture and the practical skills needed to fulfill the procedural duty in a meaningful, human-centred way.
The Substantive Duty: Accommodation Doesn’t Always Require a Complex Plan
The reference document notes that the substantive duty involves putting accommodation measures in place and assessing their reasonableness.
In practice, especially with mental health, early interventions are often simple but effective.
The Mental Health Continuum reminds us that mental health changes over time. Early conversations allow employers to offer support before the situation escalates.
Accommodations may include:
- temporary workload adjustments
- flexible scheduling
- modified duties
- use of sick or mental health days
- increased check-ins
- quiet spaces or environmental adjustments
These align with the source document’s guidance that accommodation should be tailored to what the employee can and cannot do, not their diagnosis.
Early support can prevent crises, reduce absenteeism, and lower the likelihood of long-term disability claims, benefiting both the employee and the organization.
Conclusion: Training Makes the Duty to Accommodate Possible
The duty to accommodate is nuanced, but when it comes to mental health, one thing is clear:
Supporting employees requires a culture that makes space for conversations and the skills to have those conversations safely and confidently.
With evidence-based training like The Working Mind and Mental Health First Aid, employers can:
- notice changes earlier
- engage in supportive, stigma-free inquiry
- provide appropriate accommodation
- foster healthier, more resilient teams
- support productivity and retention
Accommodation is not just a legal responsibility -it’s a human one. Mental health training ensures employers can meet that responsibility with sensitivity, confidence, and respect.
What HR Leaders and Managers Can Do Next
To strengthen your workplace’s ability to meet both components of the duty to accommodate, especially the duty to inquire, consider taking these three practical steps:
1. Build Your Confidence in Having Safe, Supportive Conversations
Learn how to approach concerns about performance, behaviour, or well-being in ways that are non-judgmental and grounded in psychological safety. These skills are what make the duty to inquire possible.
2. Learn to Recognize Shifts in Mental Health
Whether it’s changes in communication, productivity, engagement, or behaviour, knowing the signs of shifting mental health helps you intervene early, long before a crisis develops.
3. Examine and Challenge Your Own Stigma
Everyone has unconscious biases. Reflect on your own assumptions about mental health and how they might affect the way you respond to employees. Leaders who recognize and reduce stigma create safer, more inclusive workplaces.
Strengthen Your Culture and Capacity with Opening Minds
If you’re ready to help your organization meet its duty to accommodate with confidence and care, explore The Working Mind and Mental Health First Aid.
Together, they help create workplaces where employees feel safe to speak up, accommodated, and leaders can feel capable of supporting them.
- Information in this article was sourced from: Ontario Human Rights Commission. Policy on Preventing Discrimination Based on Mental Health Disabilities and Addictions: 13. Duty to Accommodate. OHRC, https://www3.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-preventing-discrimination-based-mental-health-disabilities-and-addictions/13-duty ↩︎