The Law and Recruitment

Recruiting employees can be considered a passive process, one that does not directly involve making decisions about people. A job is posted and applicants apply. Seems simple but your ‘ad’ needs to accurately reflect the requirements of the job and candidate. The process of specifying the desired knowledge, skills, abilities, others (KSAO’s) implicitly can exclude potential applicants. In the event that some criteria may affect some of the protected categories disproportionately, it is important that these criteria be proven to be job related.

Look at the following statements that could be in a job poster and consider whether they are discriminatory or not.

• Requirement to hold a driver’s license as a condition of employment
• Mandatory drug testing
• A requirement that the employee be “young and energetic”
• A community centre advertises a job assisting recent immigrants from Iran in adjusting to life in Quebec. The ad expresses a preference for a person of Persian origin fluent in Farsi

For more information, review the Ontario Human Rights Commission Website