Mother Claims Her Industry Cannot Adapt to COVID-19 Changes, Court Finds She is Just ‘Too Set in Her Ways’
A mother argued that she could not work because her industry could not adapt to the Covid-19 changes, specifically working remotely using technology. On October 8th and 9th, 2020, the father’s Motion to Change was heard and the Court rejected the mothers argument.
The Court acknowledged that, given the mother’s health concerns, it is not safe for her to be delivering in-person speech language therapy – Susanna Crichlow, Associate Lawyer
The Court acknowledged that, given the mother’s health concerns, it is not safe for her to be delivering in-person speech language therapy. Although the father accepts that her health status requires her to take extra precautions against contracting Covid-19, he argued that the mother’s position that she could not work remotely was untrue. The father argued that she could “provide speech language therapy virtually, and as a result, expand the reach of her business beyond her immediate area, to provide services throughout Florida, and indeed, she could even see her former, and new, clients in the Toronto area.”
In response, the mother argued that her education, training and experience does not support a conclusion that she is qualified to offer “tele-therapy” and that before Covid-19, “it was not readily used in urban cities…nor taught in any grad school classes.” The mother claimed that the American Speech Hearing Association only just began providing treatment guidance, usage logistics, and health care policies, with respect to tele-therapy. She stated that tele-therapy has “boomed” but “mainly for the youngest speech language pathologists and new graduates who have likely been using computers their whole lives.” She suggested that she is not technologically savvy.
Consequently, the Court expressed that, “[92] In effect, the [mother’s] argument is that she is too set in her ways to learn a new approach to delivering speech language therapy” and thus rejected her argument.
