Hiring

You’re Hired

Human rights legislation governs all hiring practices.

Finding good employees is a tough job at any time but especially when you are seeking those with special skills and the right attitude. You have to ask a job candidate a lot of questions, not only to determine their qualifications and experience, but also to understand the individual’s character and personality. Can this person work with our team?

Comply with Legislation

The hiring process must, however, comply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms section of the Constitution as well as other federal and provincial Acts. But human rights legislation makes many questions illegal. The purpose behind these Acts is to ensure all individuals have an equal opportunity to live their lives as they see fit, free from discrimination based on the general categories of age, sex, marital/family status, race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, creed, religion, citizenship, nation or ethnic origin, sexual orientation and handicap/disability. In fact, rejection of a job applicant for any reason that contravenes legislation could lead to an embarrassing investigation by the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

Types of Questions to Avoid

The following categories must be avoided: 

 age 

 country of birth 

 nationality

 first language 

 race.

Age

In 1971, Robert Neil Butler coined the term “ageism” to describe discrimination against seniors that arose from what he noted as a prejudice toward older people, old age and the aging process in general. Over time, the term has come to identify a prejudice against the young as well as the elderly. Thus, interviewers should avoid asking questions that lean toward determining age, such as:

 How old are you? 

 When did you graduate from high school/university? 

 When were you born?

Family

Questions about living arrangements or family issues are also taboo. It is not good form to ask the following questions: 

 Are you married, have a partner, live common-law? 

 How many children do you have?

 Are children expected in the near future? 

 Do you plan to have more children? 

 Do you have child care in place?

Memberships

Determining whether an individual is “the wrong type” can possibly be determined by asking questions about clubs and associations. Such questions in the first instance may provide answers that create a predetermined bias or prejudice. We all draw conclusions about a person if we discover they like horses, motorcycles or wear high heels. To avoid the appearance of prejudicial enquiry avoid asking:

 Are you currently a union member? 

 Are you a member of any social clubs?

Depending on the answer, the interviewer may automatically infer the individual is of a certain ethnic, religious, political or other background, and then stereotype the person.

Profile Prejudice

Roger Ailes, author of You Are the Message, is quoted as saying; “You’ve got just seven seconds to make the right first impression.” Whether in seven, 10 or 30 seconds, first impressions are formed rather quickly because it is easy to fall back on past experience, stereotypes and prejudices. These can be difficult to overcome since no one can function without some preconceived idea of how the world around them should look and behave. But asking questions that imply a prejudiced profile is not permissible:

 What is your weight? 

 How tall are you?

Drug or alcohol dependence are disabilities.

Disability Discrimination

Article 25 of the Canadian Human Rights Act defines disability as “any previous or existing mental or physical disability and includes disfigurement and previous or existing dependence on alcohol or a drug”. Nevertheless, there may be lingering displays of disability discrimination that may offend should an interviewer ask:

 Do you have a disability? 

 Do you mind filling out this medical history? 

 Do you party a lot? 

 Is there a history of (mental) illness in your family? 

 Have you seen a doctor in the last year? 

 When did you lose your thumb? 

 Do we need to modify chairs, washrooms, desks etc. to accommodate you?

Criminal Record

Many employers need to ensure employees are bondable and insurable. However, an employer should be cautious about asking:

 Have you ever been arrested?

Gender

Gender-based hiring is discriminatory. Although an applicant’s gender may seem obvious to the eye, it is not always. Employers may not ask: 

 Are you male or female? 

 What are your cohabitation arrangements?

 What is the name of the person you live with?

Racial Profiling

Race may be defined as a human group sharing distinct physical features such as skin colour, skin tone, eye and hair colour, as well as a tendency to develop certain diseases and cannot be changed or disguised. Don’t ask:  What is your race?

 What is your skin colour? 

 What colour are your eyes? 

 Do you have black, blonde, brown hair?

Equality

Section 15 (1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms states that every individual is “equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age, or mental or physical disability”.

Religion

Interviewers must not ask about religious affiliation: 

 What is the name of your Imam? 

 What religious holidays do you observe? 

 Do you go to church?

Exceptions

There are some apparent exceptions to this legislation under special circumstances (i.e., if there is a “bona fide occupational requirement” to do the job). For example, the owner of a Greek restaurant would be allowed to hire Greek-speaking wait staff to the exclusion of other applicants. In other cases, it must be established that it would cause undue hardship and be financially prohibitive to accommodate the worker and still maintain health and safety in the workplace.

It’s the Law

The purpose of human rights legislation is to prevent discrimination based on what people cannot change about themselves: gender, age, skin colour, ethnicity, etc. Laws and regulations remove prejudicial selection and base hiring on the qualifications of education and experience. As such, the hiring process must be designed to select employees on the basis of genuine qualifications relevant to job performance and on the basis of individual merit rather than group generalizations or stereotypes.