Termination and Disability

There are significant protections in employment law for employees who are dismissed for reasons which related to a medical disability. 

The Employment Standards Code makes it illegal to terminate an employee while they are on a long-term illness leave. Similarly, the Alberta Human Rights Act prohibits any form of discrimination against an employee due to a medical condition or disability. If an employer terminates your employment due to your medical situation you likely have a claim before the Alberta Human Rights Commission. 

There are exceptions to the above rules in the very rare situation where the termination is due to the discontinuance of all or part of the employer’s business. 

If any employer terminates your employment while on disability leave, or shortly before or after you commence a disability or medical leave, there is a high likelihood that you will be entitled to additional damages due to the employer’s actions. 

Your Next Steps

Please contact our Intake Specialist at workplacelaw@lypkielaw.com or 780-669-4542 should you require assistance with an Employment Law matter.


Case Study

Our client was employed with a municipality. He had experienced medical issues which resulted in him missing a significant time away from work. After the resolution of his medical concerns, he returned to the workplace. His employment was immediately terminated. During the termination meeting, his former manager told him that he was being let go because he had been away a significant amount of time from his work. The only reason our client had missed work was due to his medical situation. Such treatment was clearly discriminatory. We were able to use this information to commence a claim against the municipality. We were ultimately successful and were able to negotiate a settlement for him which compensated him for this discriminatory treatment.