Ozlem Yucel had her sights set on the legal profession for as long as she can remember.
“I was raised to recognize and tackle the injustices that I see in the world. It was ingrained in me as a kid,” says Yucel, the Program Chair of OsgoodePD’s brand new course, The Duty to Accommodate in the Workplace: Legal Requirements and Practical Solutions.
But it wasn’t until a couple of decades later – in an employment law class she took as a JD student at Osgoode Hall Law School – that Yucel realized precisely where her professional future lay.
“Taking that course is what sparked my interest in this field and confirmed that employment law would be my career,” says Yucel, now a partner at Toronto workplace law boutique Turnpenney Milne LLP.
“Since my call to the bar, I’ve practised employment law exclusively and it all started at Osgoode, so it really feels like a full-circle moment to be involved in this program,” she adds. “It allows me to combine my passion for employment law with professional education, which is the other area of interest that I have developed over my time in practice.”
Still, this will not be Yucel’s first return to Osgoode since she left with her JD. After several years serving as a faculty member on the Osgoode Certificates in Human Resources Law for HR Professionals and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace, she is stepping up into the Program Chair position for the Duty to Accommodate in the Workplace.
The one-day program proceeds live online on Sept. 29, with an online replay set for Oct. 27, providing a forum for attendees to explore the latest developments in the complex legal framework surrounding employers’ accommodation obligations with some of the leading practitioners in the field.
According to Yucel, the program is a welcome addition to OsgoodePD’s CLE offering, not only for employment lawyers working in-house or in private practice, but also for anyone who deals regularly with accommodation issues in the workplace, including human resources professionals, managers and senior executives.
“It’s a really important topic for these professionals to understand and learn how to navigate,” she says.
The structure of the program was specially designed so that each session builds on what attendees have already learned, with an opening session focused on the legal foundations behind the duty to accommodate.
Later in the day, attendees will go into greater depth on the issues raised by specific types of accommodation requests, including those based on disability and family status.
“These are the types that participants will likely encounter most frequently in their workplaces,” Yucel says, noting that the recent wave of move by many public and private employers to mandate a return to the office has added extra wrinkles to already complex accommodation considerations.
Building on Osgoode’s reputation as a pioneer in practical learning, the entire Duty to Accommodate program makes heavy use of real-world examples and interactive case studies.
“Rather than looking at the legal principles purely in the abstract, we get people to work through the issues using scenarios from recent case law,” Yucel says.
The day finishes off with a roundtable session, where attendees will get an opportunity to ask questions and present their own duty-to-accommodate challenges to a panel of seasoned employment lawyers and HR professionals.
“The goal is for participants to leave not only with a strong understanding of the law, but also practical strategies that they can apply in their day-to-day work when accommodation issues arise,” Yucel says.
Want to learn more about The Duty to Accommodate in the Workplace: Legal Requirements and Practical Solutions?