Experience and Expertise
Yola Grant has practiced human rights, labour and employment law for over 30 years and spent the last decade as an adjudicator, mediator and neutral investigator. Yola currently conducts consensual grievance arbitration and mediation in employment and human rights matters. She also investigates claims of human rights abuses in the workplace, education and athletics settings.
As a litigator, Yola gained experience with occupational safety, employment standards, workers compensation, and pay equity. She has presented cases before grievance arbitrators, the labour relations board, human rights tribunals, and all levels of courts, including the Supreme Court of Canada.
She served as the Associate Chair (adjudicative lead) at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) and decided significant cases with far-reaching implications regarding age discrimination and older workers disentitlement to certain employee benefits (Talos); discrimination based on citizenship where a post-graduate foreign student who was entitled to work in Canada was denied employment (Haseeb); and, recognizing the particular vulnerability of foreign farm workers (fear of losing livelihood and being repatriated) might have a bearing on their ability to assert their rights within a statutory time limit (Hosein).
She is known for her expertise in matters relating to anti-Black racism, sexual/gender harassment and age discrimination. Additionally, she also has a unique mix of scientific, marketing and non-profit board governance perspectives that she blends with her legal insights