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The Osgoode Certificate in Workplace Mental Health Law

The Osgoode Certificate in Workplace Mental Health Law

Issued on 05 Jan 2026 by

Osgoode Professional Development, York University

Osgoode Professional Development, York University

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Creating and maintaining a mentally healthy workplace has never been more important. The management of employee mental health issues has emerged as one of the most difficult and widespread challenges confronting today’s workplaces, and this has been magnified by the impact of COVID-19. A complex network of laws presents a potential minefield of difficulties for employers. Navigating these successfully and keeping the workplace healthy and productive is, in the Commission’s words, ‘simply smart business’. In this exclusively online interactive program, a multidisciplinary faculty will explain the law and best practices, provide you with a unique opportunity to drill down into the key issues that are likely to come across your desk, and to formulate strategies for handling them successfully. You’ll also receive printed materials (including toolkits and precedents) – a resource of ongoing practical value.

Issuer

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Osgoode Professional Development, York University

cpd@osgoode.yorku.ca

Osgoode Professional Development is the lifelong learning arm of Osgoode Hall Law School, one of Canada’s leading law schools.

We provide a uniquely broad and flexible range of interdisciplinary graduate-level legal education to professionals with and without law degrees.

Criteria

What You’ll Learn

  1. How to have the conversation when you are concerned about an employee’s mental health

  2. What resources are available in responding to mental health problems?

  3. To what extent do employers face a legal duty of care in relation to employees’ psychological wellbeing?

  4. Does the existence of the voluntary National Standard For Psychological Health and Safety In the Workplace create a default standard by which courts will measure employers?

  5. The effect of Bill 132 and the Occupational Health and Safety Act on employers’ duties

  6. Are employers liable for negligent or intentional infliction of mental harm during the employment relationship and after it ends?

  7. Trends in the case law on damage awards for mental distress claims

  8. Accommodating mental health disabilities in the workplace: the AODA and the Human Rights Code

  9. Addressing substance abuse problems – including impact on performance, legal liabilities, accidents, sick leave and benefit costs, and the status of ‘last chance’ agreements

  10. Addressing substance abuse problems – including impact on performance, legal liabilities, accidents, sick leave and benefit costs, and the status of ‘last chance’ agreements

  11. Creating inclusive attendance management policies and return-to-work programs that appropriately consider mental health contexts

  12. Early and successful returns to work after mental-health-related absences

  13. How unions, health and safety committees, occupational health nurses and employers can effectively work together and further the organization’s due diligence strategy

Assessment Criteria

In order to obtain the Certificate, the learner must:

  1. complete/attend all modules; and
  2. successfully complete an online assessment, obtaining at least 80%.

Estimated learning effort

Approximately 35 hours of learning effort, spread over multiple weeks.

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