Chapter 3

Question 1

Four legal sources affecting recruitment and selection in Canada

Answer 1

-constitutional law
-human rights law
-employment equity legislation
-labour law, employment standards, and privacy legislation

Question 2

Constitutional law

Answer 2

Charter of rights and freedoms, supreme law of Canada

Question 3

Human rights law types

Answer 3

-provincial;
-Canadian (federal); applies to federal government departments, crown corps and businesses that cross provincial lines (ex air travel, Canada post, banks)

Question 4

Prohibited grounds for discrimination under Canadian human rights act

Answer 4

Race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex (including pregnancy/ childbirth), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics , mental or physical disability, pardoned conviction

Question 5

What is employment equity legislation?

Answer 5

Intended to promote entry and retention of people from designated groups through the elimination of discriminatory practices in the workplace

Question 6

Designated groups under employment equity legislation?

Answer 6

Women, visible minorities, aboriginal peoples, and persons with disabilities

Question 7

When are federally regulated employers expected to enact equity programs?

Answer 7

When they have 100 or more employees

Question 8

Difference between employment equity programs and human rights commissions

Answer 8

-employment equity: may require overall of orgs recruitment and selection system, are proactive in nature to increase protected groups in workplace but are narrow in scope
-human rights commission: only requires remedy to specific complaint, reactive in nature with a broad scope

Question 9

What do federal and provincial labour laws stipulate?

Answer 9

Right for employees to form unions and bargain collective agreements

Question 10

What are collective agreements?

Answer 10

Legally binding contract between union and management

Question 11

Can collective agreements impact recruitment and selection?

Answer 11

Yes, example: closed shop agreement, where employees must be members of the union

Question 12

What do employment standard laws (provincial, federal, or territorial) do?

Answer 12

Set ground rules for employers; minimum wage, standard hours etc.

Question 13

What is privacy legislation?

Answer 13

Governs the collection, use and disclosure of personal information by employers

Question 14

Important points about privacy legislation

Answer 14

-individuals must give consent for the collection
-disclosure of information is reasonable

Question 15

Undue hardship

Answer 15

Limit beyond which employers and service providers are not expected to accommodate a member of a protected group
-employer cannot bear costs of accommodation

Question 16

Direct discrimination

Answer 16

Employer adopts a rule or practice that at face value discriminates on a prohibited ground

Question 17

Discrimination

Answer 17

Refusal to employee or continue employing a person, or adversely effect employment in the basis of membership in a protected group

Question 18

Adverse effect discrimination

Answer 18

(Indirect discrimination) employers adopt an action in good faith that has an adverse effect on members of a protected group

Question 19

Adverse impact

Answer 19

When proportionally fewer of a protected group are selected

Question 20

What is BFOR ?

Answer 20

Bona Fide Occupational Requirement; requirement that a person must possess to do a job in a safe, efficient and reliable manner

Question 21

Circumstances when employer can defend a discriminatory policy:

Answer 21

-policy is in honest and good faith
-policy is required to perform work safely, efficiently, and reliably
-prove that accommodation is impossible to achieve without undue hardship (in terms of org expenses or operations)

Question 22

accommodation

Answer 22

When discrimination has occurred, employer obligated to accommodate to the point of undue hardship

Question 23

Things to consider if employer has made reasonable accommodation

Answer 23

-financial cost for making accommodation
- disruption to any existing collective agreement
- impact to lowered morale on other employees
- flexibility of workforce and facilities
- size of org
- risk when safety is compromised

Question 24

Reasonable alternative

Answer 24

Burden on employer to show there is no reasonable/ practical alternative for discrimatory practice

Question 25

Supreme Court ruling on accommodating people with disabilities

Answer 25

Individualized (not standardized) testing must be used to accommodate

Question 26

What trumps human rights concerns?

Answer 26

Occupational Health and Safety. Aim to keep health standards high without risking human rights, but safety comes first