Effective Date: January 1, 2014

Last Revised: May 5, 2016

Responsible Department: Toronto Human Resources, Premises Operations and Technology

Approver: Managing Partners, Dentons Canada LLP, Toronto and Ottawa Offices

Application: This policy applies to Clients, Suppliers and Members of Dentons Canada LLP, Toronto and Ottawa Offices

Overview

This Plan outlines the policies, procedures and actions the Firm has adopted to improve accessibility for people with disabilities in the following areas:

1. customer service,
2. information and communication
3. employment.

Statement of Commitment

Dentons Canada takes pride in our commitment to diversity and inclusion and being both a legal services provider and employer of choice in our communities. The Firm seeks to provide a welcoming, safe, and accessible environment for our clients, our members and everyone with whom we conduct business. To this end, we commit to prevent, identify and remove barriers for people with disabilities and deliver our services in a way that respects every person’s independence and dignity and encourages integration and equal opportunity.

Plan

Customer service

Focused on exceptional customer service, the Firm seeks to provide an environment where everyone has access to our professional services. To ensure this, we shall meet or exceed the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (Ontario) (the AODA) as follows:

Policy

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

An adopted Accessibility Policy is available upon request. The Firm reviews the Policy regularly to meet new requirements of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulations under the AODA.

Procedures

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

The Firm continually identifies and removes barriers to access for people with disabilities. To date we do the following to achieve this goal:

1. Permit Personal Assistive Devices and the use of service animals and support persons, subject to clarifying the potential consequences with support persons for solicitor-client privileged communications.
2. Provide Assistive Devices where reasonable and necessary; for example, we keep a wheelchair and computer software such as magnifiers available for clients.
3. Train our lawyers, paraprofessionals, and other support people on key principles and strategies for ensuring respectful and effective communication with persons with disabilities.

Service disruptions

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

When the office’s services are temporarily disrupted, the Firm takes reasonable steps to advise people with disabilities whom the disruption might affect; in particular, we identify the disruption’s cause and duration and give information on alternative services.

Feedback mechanism

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

The Firm welcomes feedback on how we provide our services to people with disabilities.

1. We encourage feedback directly to those who delivered the services, but also invite general feedback by telephone, in writing, or email to the contact telephone numbers and addresses listed on our website.
2. To the greatest extent possible, we respond to feedback from or regarding client service for people with disabilities directly; where the feedback is general, the Director, Human Resources and Premises Operations investigates the matter, takes appropriate action, and makes every effort to respond to the feedback quickly and effectively.

Availability of customer services documents

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

The Firm makes our Accessibility Policy and all related documents available on request.

1. We make every effort to make the information available to persons with disabilities in a format that accounts for their disabilities.
2. We produce materials to accommodate individual needs timely and at no additional cost to the individual being accommodated.

Accessibility Plan

Compliance Date: January 1, 2014

Status: Completed

An adopted multi-year Accessibility Plan is updated as goals are achieved and reviewed at least once every five years.

Information and Communications

The Firm will continue to develop better ways to communicate information effectively and efficiently, as follows:

Training

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

All existing Firm employees received the online Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 training by January 1, 2012, and every new employee hired since that date receives the training as part of orientation. We maintain records of the training dates and attendees.

Everyone who participates in developing the Firm’s policies or provides goods, services or access to facilities on the Firm’s behalf receives Accessibility Standards for Customer Service, Ontario Regulation 429/07 training as appropriate to their duties.

Compliance Date: January 1, 2015

Status: Completed

All employees, volunteers, people who participate in developing the Firm’s policies and people who provide goods, services or access to facilities on the Firm’s behalf will receive:

1. training on the requirements of the accessibility standards referred to in Integrated Accessibility Standards, Ontario Regulation 191/11,
2. training on the Human Rights Code’s sections concerning persons with disabilities
3. further training on the Information and Communication or Employment Standards as required either departmentally or where appropriate to the employee’s duties.

Accessible websites and content

Compliance Date: January 1, 2014

Status: In progress

The Firm meets many of the WCAG 2.0 Level A requirements on our global website, and continues to expand on its accessibility for all users.

Compliance Date: January 1, 2021

Status: In progress

The Firm will work towards meeting the WCAG 2.0 Level AA Other Than Success Criteria 1.2.4 Captions (Live) and Success Criteria 1.2.5 Audio Descriptions (Pre-recorded) by the established timelines.

Accessible formats and communication supports

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

On or before January 1, 2016, the Firm will do the following:

1. Provide or arrange for accessible formats and communication supports for persons with disabilities, upon request and where practicable and in a timely manner that accounts for the persons’ disability at no additional cost to the person.
2. Consult with the person making the request to determine the appropriate accessible format or communication support.
3. Ensure through our public website that the public and Dentons employee are aware that accessible formats and communication supports are available.

Employment

The Firm is committed to inclusive and accessible employment practices that attract and allow us to retain talented employees. To achieve this, we accommodate people with disabilities both during recruitment and throughout their employment with the Firm.

Workplace individual emergency response information

Compliance Date: January 1, 2012

Status: Completed

On learning of an employee’s needs, the Firm works with the employee to create an individualized emergency response plan.

1. With consent, we share this information with those responsible for helping in emergencies.
2. We review individualized emergency response plans whenever the employee moves to a different location, overall accommodation needs or plans are reviewed and we review our general emergency response policies.

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

In recruiting new employees, the Firm notifies potential applicants that we accommodate applicants with disabilities. On request, we will provide accommodation appropriate to the applicants’ accessibility needs.

Informing employees of supports

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

The Firm informs all existing and new employees of policies that support employees with disabilities. Employees will be notified of changes to existing policies regarding job accommodations for accessibility.

Accessible formats and communication supports for employees

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

The Firm will notify employees that accessible formats and communication supports for information needed to perform the job and generally available to employees in the workplace are available.

Documented Individual Accommodation Plans

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

We will develop and implement a written process for developing documented individual accommodation plans for employees with disabilities.

1. Individualized accommodation plans are our formal recording of the workplace related accommodations that we provide to employees with a disability.
2. Individualized accommodation plans are living documents that will be reviewed and updated to remain effective and current.
3. We will work with employees who request individual accommodation plans in developing those plans.

Return-to-work process

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Process completed; policy completed

The Firm has developed and implemented a return-to-work process for employees who are absent due to a disability and need accommodations to return to work; the process outlines the steps we will take to facilitate the employee’s return to work.

Performance management, career development and advancement

Compliance Date: January 1, 2016

Status: Completed

The Firm will account for accessibility needs and any individual accommodation plans of employees with disabilities when applying our performance management process, career development and advancement opportunities to employees.

Definitions

Any definitions listed in the following table apply only to this plan, with no implied or intended use beyond those documents.

Firm

In this plan, the Firm means the Ontario offices of Dentons Canada LLP.

Information

Data, facts and knowledge that conveys meaning in any format, including text, audio, digital or image.

Communication

The interaction between two or more persons or entities, or any combination of them, where information is provided, sent or received.

Disability

Any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical co-ordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device.

It also includes a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability, a learning disability or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language, as well as a mental disorder or injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under any provincial workplace safety or insurance act.

The definition includes disabilities of different severity and visible as well as nonvisible disabilities.

Personal assistive devices

In this policy, personal assistive devices are personal supports used by persons with disabilities that enable them to carry out the activities of daily living.

Power-mobility devices (power wheelchairs or scooters) are regarded as personal assistive devices.

Support persons

A support person accompanies a person with a disability to help with communication, mobility, personal care, medical needs or access to goods or services.

A support person may be a paid professional, volunteer, family member, or friend.

Accessible formats

These are, for instance, large print, recorded audio, electronic formats, braille and other formats for persons with disabilities.

Communication supports

These may include, for instance, captioning, alternative and augmentative communication supports, plain language, sign language, and other supports that facilitate effective communication.