BCBusiness

62 BCBUSINESS MARCH 2016 Brandon Hillis of Roper Greyell LLP, a Vancouver law firm special- izing in employment and labour law, says the employer's responsibility is to not create "undue hardship" for the employee. But just what constitutes undue hardship is as foggy as a cloud of exhaled smoke. "There is no bright-line test," Hillis says, "and what constitutes an undue hardship for one employer may not constitute undue hardship for another. Human rights tribunals and arbitrators will give consideration to a variety of different factors including the cost of potential accommodations, the interchangeability of the workforce and the size and means of the employer, and will generally require firm evidence." The same seems true of service animals. A seeing eye dog is one thing, but a Muffy-makes-me-feel-better dog is another matter. Nor can you get a licence for a service parrot or service hamster. "As there is currently no rec- ognized training standard for therapy dogs or animals other than dogs," the BC Guide Dogs and Service Dogs website says, "they are not eligible for certification at this time." You are still free to insist you would die without Muffy at your side. If there's an objection, you could then make your case to the BC Human Rights Tribunal. You would have to establish you have a disability and need the ani- mal to accommodate that disability in an area of daily life covered by the human rights code, advises B.C.'s Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. Your employer would then be given the opportunity to show how they have accommodated you or why they can't. As for medical marijuana users, Hillis says they can expect to endure extra scrutiny. "Because of the ease with which medical marijuana can be obtained, and because it is a popular recreational drug, employers faced with an employee who arrives at work with documentation entitling them to use medical marijuana are often skeptical, and deservedly so." The skepticism results from the ease of gaining accredi- tation. The regulations do not require a doctor's prescription, just a "medical document" from a healthcare practi- tioner. Nor do they require evidence of medical examinations or that medical marijuana is the best or only available treatment for the individual. Still, Hillis warns, employers find themselves in trouble because they do treat medical marijuana differently than other medications, often by attempting to prohibit its use outright and by termi- nating users while permitting the use of other painkillers by employees. Pain relief is one thing. But whether you are placing your immortal soul in peril can also fall within the legal realm. Last year, when Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licences, she insisted she was following "God's law." Davis spent five days in jail for refusing to obey Kentucky law, but then she was back at work—and back to refusing licences. How did Davis manage to merit that sort of workplace accommodation? Simple: she was elected. • "Businesses need a granular understanding of customer habits, distribution channels, pricing and regulations." (Financial Post, Nov. 3, 2015) J a r g o n W a t c h According to Oxford, the technical use of granular means characterized by a high degree of granularity, which in turn refers to the scale or level of detail in a set of data. More specifi- cally, says BusinessDictionary.com, "The greater the granularity, the deeper the level of detail." General speech, however, tends to ignore levels of granularity, using "granular" to mean "finely detailed," "in excessive detail" (OfficeSlang.com) or "overly detailed" (Urban Dictionary.com)—or sometimes just "extremely fine," as in "granular detail." • granu . lar [from granulum: granule]

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