On Monday, the Ontario Government announced that, commencing July 1, 2016, there will be some significant changes to the Customer Service Standard under the AODA.
The first concerns the definition of a large organization. Up to now, under the Customer Service Standard, an organization was considered large if it had 20+ employees. This was in contrast to the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (IASR) which defined a large organization as being one with 50+ employees. As of July 1st onwards, organizations with 50+ employees will be considered large under the Customer Service Standard, as well as the IASR.
Secondly, under the previous accessible customer service standard, you only had to train the members of your organization who worked with customers or create policies and procedures on how to interact with people with different disabilities.
Effective July 1, 2016, you must train all members of your organization on accessible customer service and how to interact with people with different disabilities.
The training requirement with respect to the other accessibility standards under the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation remains the same. This means that you must continue to train all staff on:
o employment
o information and communications
o transportation
o design of public spaces
- the Ontario Human Rights Code (where it relates to people with disabilities)
- when you make any changes to your accessibility policies
The final amendment concerns service animals. The government has expanded the list of professionals authorized to provide documents indicating the need for a service animal. Doctors and nurses were originally the only ones allowed to provide such authorization, but the list now includes psychologists, psychotherapists, audiologists, chiropractors and optometrists.
Useful tools: Government of Ontario- Link to quick reference guide explaining the changes to the accessible customer service standard
Information on the Government of Ontario website outlines the complete requirements for the customer service standard, including the changes that take effect July 1: https://www.ontario.ca/page/how-make-customer-service-accessible