Discrimination

HR Day 4

Direct Discrimination- on grounds specified in the human rights legislation is

illegal
Indirect discrimination- is also illegal
- Company policy, practice, or action that is not openly or intentionally
discriminatory but has an indirect discriminatory impact or effect
- E.g. police officer application requires you to be 5 11, is that really
necessary?
Disney with woman being fired for consistently wearing her head scarf (Hijab) .
Argument 1:
- Since they are a privately owned corporation only worried about maximizing
profit, they have the right to protect their image.
- As long as the rule of dress code and appearance is equally enforced to all
religions, then it is fair.
Meiron Test of a Bone Fide Occupational Requirement:
Case Summary
- A firefighter who successfully completed her job for 3 years out west, and
then the managers decided to implement fitness standards. Firefighters had
to be able to run 2.5 km in 11 minutes. She passed every fitness test except
for the running challenge. She was fired, and the employer never tried to
accommodate her and filed a lawsuit against them, claiming that it was not a
true requirement of the job.
o There were 4 questions that they asked as they researched whether
this could be considered an occupational requirement.
1) Is there discrimination on a prohibited ground?
Her argument was that this discriminated against
women, since men have a higher aerobic capacity.
2) Was the standard, policy or practice adopted for a purpose
rationally connected to the job?
3) Was the standard, policy or practice adopted in honest good
faith belief it was necessary to fulfill legitimate work related
purpose?
4) Is the standard, policy or practice reasonably necessary to
fulfill that legitimate work related purpose?
a. They said no, being able to run that distance is not
necessary.being able to lift things certainly is.
***If the answer is no to ANY ONE of questions 2,3 or 4, the discrimination is
illegal****

****If the answer is yes to ALL of the question, then discrimination is legal (and
discriminatory factor is a bone fide occupational requirement***
BFOR (or BFOQ)
- A reasonably necessary qualification or requirement imposed in a sincere
belief it is related to job performance.
- Justified business reason for discriminating against members in a protected
class
- Business necessity is a practice that includes the safe and efficient operation
of an organization.

Duty to Accommodate
-

Not waiving requirements for some people.

Consideration & establishment of alternative requirements before
committing to the rule or standard.

- Relating back to Meiorin:

o Standard for men: 11:00
(Higher aerobic capacity)
o Standard for women: 12:45
(Lower aerobic capacity)
Principle of accommodation is based on 3 Factors
- Individualization everybody is unique, and some people may need more
accommodations than another
- Dignity
- Inclusionemployee is still included in the workforce in the same way as
everybody else.
**SSC has ruled duty to accommodate ends when there is no reasonable chance
employee could fulfill basic obligations of work. ***

Undue Hardship
Relevant factors in discussion of undue hardship
1. Cost this relates to how large the company is as well, could it seriously
affect the companys finances to accommodate this person?
2. Outside sources of funding
3. Health and safety requirements e.g. accommodating someone who is going
blind and is a driver for fed- ex
Example: alternative headwear
Common Law
Contract Law
- establish employer and employee relationship
- employees are entitled to a certain amount of notice, and a certain amount of
severance pay if they are dismissed

Tort Law
- Wrongs against each other
- E.g. providing a negative and slanderous reference for someone
- Negligent tort, by carelessly misleading employees about promotions, long
term viability of the job etc.

Class 5

Constitution (Supreme
Law of Canada; includes Charter of
Rights & Freedoms)

Statutory Law

(legislation made by
government)

Common Law
(judge-made law)

Judicial Framework
Court System
Administrative System:
o Tribunals make decisions in specialized areas governend by statuses;
quasi-judicial
o Agencies investigate complaints, make rulings, issue orders
System is complaint Driven
Example: Gas station attendant murdered
o Attendant Jayesh Prajapati died after being hit by car in gas and dash
incident Saturday, September 15th
Reason for this happening is because the franchise required
that if gas is stolen that the employee on duty paid for it.
Employment standards act, 2000: section 13 (5)
o Sates that if there is lost property, or property stolen if there is
another person who has access to the cash or property as well.

Module 2- HR Functions
Job analysis:
Where you get your information
How your going to illicit your information
Job Analysis Information
Job Performance standards
o E.g. you need to sell this many ..
Job Description
Job Specifications
Job Design
Job Description:
A recognized list of functions, tasks, accountabilities, working conditions, and
competencies for a particular occupation or job
Job title
Summary of job
Job duties
Job specifications
Date
Also: relationships, working conditions, Authority, accountability
Job Specification:
A written statement that explains what a job demands of jobholders and the human
skills and factors required
What sort of training do you need before coming to the job
KSAOs
Competency-based approach
Essential Requirements (BFOR)
o Is a requirement set out by the employer absolutely necessary to the
job?

Job Design
Job design is an outgrowth of job analysis that improves jobs through technologies
and human consideration in order to enhance organizational efficiency and
employee job satisfaction

Performing a Job Analysis:

Select jobs to study
Determing information to collect
Identify sources of data
Methods of data collection
Evaluate and verify data collection
Write job analysis report
Approaches to Job Analysis: ****not important- dont memorize!*** just so we know
there are more methods
Functional Job Analysis
Position Analysis Questionnaire
Critical Incident Method
HRIS and Job Analysis

Class 6

Application Interview Conditional Offer

Application Very limited question set most companies just use Resumes
nowadays
Interviews
Be aware of prohibited grounds
Base questions on KSAOs (Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, Other Characteristics
(customer service skills, friendliness)) required for the job.
o Asking only relevant questions that dont get too personal
Use standard set of questions and ask all of them to every interviewee
o Even if you realize the candidate isnt quite made for the job, its
important to continue the interview and ask all questions so it doesnt
seem like you made a snap judgment
Use interview teams
o So you have good records, and notes
o Get a few different perspectives this avoids biases
Take thorough and appropriate notes
o Dont write down weird things on the notes because the organization
often asks to keep the notes
Candidate
Essential
Desirable

Candidate A

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

Candidate B

Yes

Yes

No

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Candidate C

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Candidate D

Yes

Yes

No

No

No

No

No

Pre- Employment Tests

Job Skills
o What youre actually doing on the job
Driving boats, using particular machinery
Personality
Integrity
o What would you do in this scenario?
Its hard not to hire someone because you dont think they have
enough integrity
Medical/ Fitness
o Must make sure fitness tests are applicable and required for the job
Drug/ Alcohol
o A drug addiction is a disability and therefore they cannot hold it
against you or discriminate against you because of it.
The employer must accommodate to the point of undue
hardship
The employee would often send the employee to get help and
then reintroduce them to the office under new conditions.
Misrepresentation by Employee | Resume Doctoring: Case
Grounds for dismissal if:
o Goes to the root of qualification
o Inherent lack of honesty relevant to job
o If minor misrepresentation (exaggeration), reasonable notice
required
Two things that their decision hinges on:
Employer decides whether or not they want to keep you
Take into account if youve done good work
What public relations effects this termination could have
Video Case- Doctor Recruitment
Misrepresentation
Negligent Misrepresentation in hiring
o Convincing someone to come to your corporation based of false or
exaggerated statements and promises.
Inducement
o Inducement is enticement or luring with a false promise
Queen versus Cognos, 1993
SCC developed a 5 part test to determine negligent misrepresentation in
hiring:
1. Duty of care based on special relationship between representor and
representee
2. Representation must be untrue, inaccurate or misleading
3. Representor must have acted negligently

4. Representee must have relied, in a reasonable manner, on said

negligent misrepresentation
5. Reliance must have been detrimental to representee in sense that
damages resulted
Training and Development
Orientation
Formal process of familiarizing new employees with the organization, their
jobs, and their work units AND embedding organizational

Capability
Enhance capability and intentionality

Knowledge, skills, attitudes

Transfer
Enhanced capability improves job performance

New behaviours, new tasks, improved performance

Business Results
Enhances performance improves business results

Improvement in business/org outcomes

Return on Investment
Net benefits from business improvements exceed training costs, resulting in positive ROI

Phase 1: Need Assesment

Organization Analysis
An examination of the environment, strategies, and resources of
the organization to determine where training emphasis should be
placed.
Task Analysis
The process of determining what the content of a training program
should be on the basis of a study of the tasks and duties involved
in the job.
Person Analysis
A determination of the specific individuals who need training.
Phase 2: Designing the Training Program
1. Intructional Objectives
2. Trainee readiness and motivation
3. Principles of learning
a. Goal setting, individual preferences, ractice and repetition, whole vs.
part learning, modeling..
Phase 3: Implementing the Trainee Program
Choosing instructional method
o On job
o Classroom
o E-learning
o Simulation
o Role playing
o Behavioural modeling
Phase 4: Evaluating the Training Program
1. Trainee reactions
2. Extent of Learning
3. Behaviour
4. Results
Measuring Impact on ROI
Challenges in measuring Impact
o Evaluation expertise
o Time required
o Gathering appropriate Data
o Low response rates
o Evaluator bias
o Isolating training impact

Career Development- Balancing Needs

Mentoring
Mentor an experienced or more senior person in the organization who gives
a junior person special attention, such as giving advice and creating opportunities to
assist him or her during the early staged of his or her career.
***Nowadays mentors often actually advocate for their mentee***
Class 6
Performance Management Systems
Performance Appraisal: Quite narrowly is a formal process in an
organization whereby each employee is evaluated to determine how he or
she is performing
Performance Management: Is the process to plan, measure, review,
monitor, document and discuss performance to further the success of the
organization and the individual.
Why is performance management important to employees?
So you have a justification for any action you might take towards them.
(e.g. firing an employee)
Managers can see if things need to be improved
o Identify systemic problems
Compensation
Developmental and career opportunities
Feedback on performance (recognize, reward, clarify, improve)

Why is performance management important to the organization?

Administrative decisions (promo, transfer, layoff)
Clarifies/measures performance
Compensation
Developmental purposes
Legal Compliance
o Proper documentation
Performance Management Process
PlanningExecution Assessment Review Renewal
Factors that influence performance

Strategic approach to establishing performance standards:

Corporate Goals
Departmental Goals and Objectives
Individual Performance Objectives
Establishing Individual Performance Metrics
1. Traits: Characteristics that achieve results
2. Behaviours: how the job needs to get done
3. Task outcomes: What gets produced/ done
4. Objectives: What gets achieved
Standards for quality of performance metric
6 standards for choosing quality performance metrics
1. Relevance
a. Relevant to job performance
2. Accountability
a. Is the thing were trying to measure actually within the control of
the employee.

3. Accuracy
a. Can it actually be measured? On a scale? E.g. measuring
communication skills
4. Fairness
a. Fair across all employees. No Bias
b. Not fair to measure peoples performance based on things that
arent required for the job
5. Usefulness
6. Practicality