As of Jan. 1, 2012, all employers in Ontario who provide goods and services must be compliant with the Ontario’s new Accessibility Standard for Customer Service issued under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA).  

While the Customer Service Standards have applied to designated public sector organizations since Jan. 1, 2010, those standards will apply to all providers of goods or services in Ontario. Employers covered by the Customer Service Standards are required to:

• Establish policies, practices and procedures governing the provision of goods and services to persons with disabilities.
• Provide training to all people who interact with the public on the organization’s behalf, as well as to those who are involved in developing the organization’s policies and procedures.
• Allow persons with disabilities who use service animals or support persons to enter areas that are open to the public or that are open to other third parties where the organization is providing goods or services.
• Notify the public regarding temporary planned or unexpected disruptions to facilities or services that persons with disabilities use to access the organization’s goods or services.
• Establish a process by which people can give feedback on how its organization provides goods or services to persons with disabilities and describe how the organization will respond to the feedback.
• Maintain documents containing the general policies, feedback processes and training materials developed pursuant to the above requirements, as well as to provide such documents to any person upon request. This last requirement applies only to organizations with 20 employees or more.

The Customer Service Standards will be enforced by workplace inspections, compliance orders and administrative fines of up to $100,000 for each day that a corporation is not in compliance.

To find out more information on the Act, go to www.mcss.gov.on.ca/en/mcss/programs/accessibility/index.aspx. The Customer Service Standards also requires that organizations file compliance reports through the Service Ontario website www.ontario.ca/en/services_for_residents/ONT04_024954.html.

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