The duty to provide accommodations to persons with disabilities is well established in Canadian law. While some limits are placed on the accommodations which employers are required to offer, stress is placed on the obligation to accommodate in employment practices to provide for equal opportunity to persons with disabilities. The duty to accommodate is affirmed in legislation such as The Employment Equity Act, The Canadian Human Rights Code, and The Ontario Human Rights Code. Further, the duty to accommodate is affirmed in Ryerson University's policies such as the Employment Equity Policy, the Accommodation for Employees and Applicants with Disabilities Policy and the Discrimination and Harassment Prevention Policy. It is important to note that the Ryerson University is a single employer with a legal responsibility to accommodate disabled workers.

The term "accommodations" refers to adaptations to the work environment that permit a person with a disability to do his or her job effectively.

Workplace accommodations take many forms:

- Making workplace facilities accessible
- Modifying work schedules
- Restructuring the work
- Acquiring or modifying equipment, software or devices
- Providing support services or qualified assistants
- Retraining or reassigning employees
- Changing work locations

The duty to accommodate persons with disabilities means accommodation must be provided in a manner that most respects the dignity of the person, if to do so does not create undue hardship. Dignity includes consideration of how accommodation is provided and the individual's own participation in the process.

Human dignity encompasses individual self-respect and self-worth. It is concerned with physical and psychological integrity and empowerment. It is harmed when individuals are marginalized, stigmatized, ignored or devalued. Privacy, confidentiality, comfort, autonomy, individuality and self-esteem are important factors as well as to whether an accommodation maximizes integration and promotes full participation in society.

Different ways of accommodating the needs of persons with disabilities should be considered along a continuum from those ways which are most respectful of privacy, autonomy, integration Human Resources and other human values, to those which are least respectful of those values. Perhaps the most common example of an accommodation that demonstrates little respect for the dignity of a person with a disability is a wheelchair entrance over a loading dock or through a service area or garbage room. Persons with disabilities should have the same opportunity as others to enter a building in a manner that is as convenient and pleasant for them as it is for others.

Business inconvenience, resentment or hostility from other co-workers, the operation of collective agreements and customer "preferences" cannot be considered in the accommodation process. When a person with a disability needs supports in order to apply for a job and/or work, the employer has a duty to provide these supports to the point of undue hardship.

Undue hardship covers the limits that the employer is legally required to go to in order to accommodate Persons with Disabilities. Only three factors can be considered: cost, outside sources of funding and health and safety:

Costs: A cost is "undue" if it is so high that it affects the survival of the organization or business, or changes its essential nature. Such costs must be quantifiable and can include costs such as capital and operating costs and the cost of re-structuring. Human rights law recognizes that different businesses have different financial circumstances. What may be an "undue cost" for a small business, may not be undue for a larger one. If the accommodation requires the business to fundamentally change what the business does, that may also be "undue." However, it is important to note that recent court rulings have upheld the duty to accommodate even where costs to do so are substantial.

Outside sources of funding: Accommodation funds (often available in the public sector), as well as government grants or loans, can offset some costs, and should be considered in assessing undue hardship. If the cost of an accommodation is too large to carry out all at once, it may be possible to phase it in over time, or to create a reserve fund.

Health and safety factors may limit the accommodation that is possible. However, it must first be decided whether any applicable health and safety requirements can be waived or modified, or if alternatives can be found to protect health and safety. If Ontario health and safety laws do not allow a health and safety requirement to be waived, equivalent safety measures can still be used.

While most persons with disabilities in the workforce report some limitation at work (85 percent), fewer than 20 percent require any form of accommodation, and the vast majority of those require one or two supports at most.