BCGSEU v. PSERC (1999)

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In this unanimous decision, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that if a workplace policy systematically excludes women or other groups it must be scrutinized to ensure whether it is truly required to determine job performance. Tawney Meiorin, a female forest fire fighter in BC, had worked in this male dominated profession for over two years with good reviews. Then the BC government decided that all fire fighters had to pass a set of tests to show that they could physically do the job. Tawney passed all but one test.

LEAF, the running component in coalition with the Canadian Labour Congress, intervened at the Supreme Court level to argue that Tawney had suffered sex discrimination. Although women and men have a different capacity to process oxygen, only one running test was used, and it had been designed using male test subjects.

The government of BC was required to reinstate Tawney to do her job.

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Supreme Court of Canada Decision (1999)