It’s vital for personal injury lawyers to understand the future earning potential of their plaintiff clients. People with disabilities often face employment barriers, resulting in lower employment rates, a decreased capacity to work full-time, and therefore higher rates of involuntary part-time work. Recent amendments and a deadline pertaining to the Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10) are also relevant to trial lawyers.Statistics Canada recently released a report on how much less income disabled people earn, broken out by type of disability. Overall, people with disabilities earn one-fifth (21%) less than people without disabilities.As in the general population, the gender pay gap exists – disabled women make 20% less than disabled men. Age is also a discriminant: the older a disabled person is, the wider the pay gap. This age gap in earnings among the disabled ranges from 9% among disabled workers under 25 years of age to 27% among those aged 45 plus.The earnings gap is greatest for people with cognitive or other mental-health related disabilities. Head injuries are a major factor in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and slip and fall cases. And as we reported in an earlier article (The Pandemic Radically Shifted Health Insurance Claims) mental disorders are now the leading driver of long-term disability (LTD) claims in group benefit plans.
| Disability type | Mean annual earnings | Pay gap |
|---|---|---|
| None | $55,200 | NA |
| Seeing | $48,400 | 12.3% |
| Hearing | $48,400 | 12.3% |
| Physical | $43,800 | 20.7% |
| Cognitive | $29,600 | 46.4% |
| Mental health-related |
$38,100 | 31.0% |
SOURCE: Statistics Canada, Earnings pay gap among persons with and without disabilities, 2019These updates a 2017 study which showed:
- One in five (22%) Canadians aged 15 years and over – or about 6.2 million individuals – had one or more disabilities.
- Among those aged 25 to 64 years, disabled people were less likely to be employed (59%) than those without disabilities (80%).
- As the level of disability severity increased, the likelihood of being employed decreased. Among individuals aged 25 to 64 years, three-quarters (76%) of those with mild disabilities were employed, but only one-third (31%) of those with very severe disabilities were employed.
- Persons with more severe disabilities were more likely to be living in poverty (28%) than those with milder disabilities (14%) or people without disabilities (10%).
The Accessible Canada Act (S.C. 2019, c. 10) was most recently amended in April 2023. One priority of the Act is to identify, remove and prevent employment barriers. It requires businesses, the government, and other employers to make spaces and opportunities accessible for disabled people. As of June 1, 2023, federally regulated employers with 100 or more employees in 2021 were required to comply. Key future deadlines under the Act:
- By June 1, 2024, federally regulated employers with between 10 and 99 employees in 2021, or who were established or became federally regulated in 2022, must comply; and
- By June 1, 2025, federally regulated employers that are established or become federally regulated in 2023 must comply.
