According to the Ontario Human Rights Commission, after World War II, a series of events led to the induction of the Racial Discrimination Act of 1944, The Fair Employment Practices Act of 1951, and The Fair Accommodation Practices Act of 1954. These acts went through one revision in 1962 and yet another in 1972. The latest revision of the acts is seen in The Canadian Human Rights Employment Act of 1977. This act is intended to protect workers’ rights during the recruitment, hiring, and employment processes. It is intended to assist employers by providing guidelines as to what is legally considered as treating everyone equally in the workplace. The Canadian Human Rights Commission asserts that the Act of 1977 states that “all individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated, consistent with their duties and obligations as members of society, without being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discriminatory practices based on race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered.” This act protects individuals from discriminative recruiting and hiring practices bases on the protected delineations. A human resource worker should know what type of practices are considered discriminatory and what types, classes, and conditions are considered protected. There are several facets to the act which will be discussed within this paper, but most notable the section discussing harassment (1980-81-82-83, c.143, s.7). Each facet, however, is extremely important in contributing to excellent relations between employees and employers and creating a positive work environment. A human resource worker should know these facets well and know what actions to take to uphold them in the work environment. Also, a human resource worker should know what to do if one of those facets is violated by the employer or another employee.
The actions that constitute discriminatory practices are outlined in great detail within the Canadian Human Rights Employment Act. Discriminatory practices includes the denial of goods, services, facilities, or lack of accommodation to the aforementioned statuses and classes. Such discriminative practices (1976-77, c. 33, s. 5-11) include denial of accommodations at the workplace and refusing to or continuing to employ an individual with unreasonable accommodation because he or she has a protected status. Employers are not allowed to utilize any application or make an oral or written request, for purposes of prospective employment, for information concerning a protected status. Employers are not allowed to exclude, expel, suspend, limit, or segregate any employee based on a protected status. Employers must not comprise or pursue any policy or set of policies that encourage discriminatory practices in “recruitment, referral, hiring, promotion, training, apprenticeship, transfer,” or any other type of prospective employment activity by depriving a person or class of persons employment opportunities based on the protected statuses. Employers should not pay male and female employees of the same position and job duties different wages or assess their work differently on the basis of any of the protected classes. These are only a few of the guidelines outlined for employers to utilize when establishing or promoting recruitment, hiring, or employment practices. It is a good idea for employers to establish, adopt, train, and maintain policies that confront discriminatory behavior in the workplace and delineate the consequences employees may face if they are found to violate company policy. Employers that are void of policies against discriminatory behavior could be promoting discriminatory practices just by not being equipped to handle any complaints that may arise. Employers, with the help of human resource workers, should possess and implement practices that help to eradicate ongoing discriminatory behaviors.
Sometimes there are violations of the Human Rights Act. When that happens, there is a prescribed process employers should utilize to determine if a violation occurred and implement the consequence for those actions. If the issue is handled unsatisfactorily on the employer level, complaints can escalate to the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The Commission will conduct their own investigation to determine any violation of the Human Rights Act that have occurred and implement subsequence consequences. Also, there is the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that is the next agency that will investigate claims of discrimination and, if valid, implement the appropriate consequence; the most common being a fine of $50,000 maximum that would have to be paid “as soon as possible.”
Violations of the Canadian Human Rights Employment Act occur in different ways (Claydon, 1981). One way in particular that this can happen is termed “harassment.” Harassment can occur in the form of a joke, statement, physical contact, or any action, intentionally or unintentionally, deemed offensive and requested to be terminated. There is a lot of room for interpretation for harassment but the Act provides standard requirements. The Government of Canada Justice Laws infer that harassment usually includes “what was said or the behavior usually happened more than once” and “the person responsible for the comment or conduct should have known that it is not welcome.” Unlike the definition of harassment in the United States, the Act does not require for the victim to tell the person(s) involved to stop the behavior. However, once determined to be harassment, the human resource worker must document the incidences and the actions taken by the employer to stop the behaviors and prevent additional incidences from occurring.
In a report given by the Commission on Equality in Employment (1985), four groups were identified as being vulnerable to discriminative employment practices. “Women, native people, disabled persons, and visible minorities” were determined to be more prone to unfair hiring practices. In addition to other protected statuses, these were included to try to ensure eradication of discrimination in the workplace. With the 1977 Employment Act and dedicated human resource workers, these groups and others will be assisted in the fight for employment equality.
Human resource workers’ role to uphold the rights of workers as outlined by the Act is crucial. The Human Rights Code of 2006 shifts the responsibility of investigating and reprimanding violation of employment rights from the Human Rights Commission to the Human Rights Tribunal. The shift in the procedures for handling complaints was effective as of 2007. Human resource workers should know the procedures for their place of employment in handling complaints or perceived human rights employment violations. As outlined by the Ontario Human Rights Commission, the employer is responsible for addressing all discrimination. They must have procedures in place to address complaints, have “corporate awareness” regarding the definition of discrimination and what types of actions constitute it, take internal complaints seriously and investigate claims of harassment (sexual and otherwise), act immediately to stop and address allegations of harassment and discrimination, provide a positive (healthy) work environment for alleged victims that is free from reprisal, and make the complainant aware of actions it is taking the investigate and rectify the issues brought to its attention. The code addresses some noteworthy topics. Employers must realize that even though there may not be complaints that does not mean that there is not an issue with discrimination. Human resource employees must be conscious of the workplace culture and, upon noticing potential discriminative behavior, take steps to contend with it. Employers need to, as much as possible, take steps to ensure the personal safety of the complainant(s) of harassment. Human resource workers should be a reliable point of contact during these situations in order to safeguard from mobbing or bullying activities that could contribute to a “poisoned environment” in the workplace.
Human resource workers should have the knowledge to share with employees that they have the rights to file a human rights violation complaint at the same time they file the complaint at the company where they work and be able to inform them of the procedures for both. Human resource workers should be capable and available to assist with negotiations and not wait until the Human Rights Tribunal has come to a decision regarding the issue when it is not necessary to wait. The human resource employee should be trained in the application of internal workplace policies regarding alleged human rights employment violations. Also, employees need to be trained in the application of applying human rights principles during internal investigations if they are the ones that will conduct these investigations instead of Tribunal members or external investigators. During investigations, employees must be cognizant of common researching and interviewing errors as additional considerations when attempting to settle an issue internally. Employees who are entrusted to conduct these investigations for their employer should be thoroughly trained.
There are many everyday reasons and procedures to attempt to resolve complaints before they become Tribunal investigations. Remembering that employees have the right to file a complaint with Human Rights Commission at the same time they file a complaint at their place of employment, employers should still try to resolve human rights violations complaints as it can become costly and have a negative impact on everyone involved. Human resource employees can utilize a number of specialized remedies for particular allegations of human rights violations. These remedies can include, but are not limited to, monetary compensation for lost wages, difference in promotional salaries, or general damages, reinstatement of position to the claimant, re-evaluation of anti-discriminatory policies, or developing more effective internal human rights violations complaint resolution. Human resource employees can also be trained in preparing and discussing release options with employees. Sometimes signing a release has no effect on what the employee is owed based on his or her complaint. However, there are many litigation issues that arise when discussing release forms and contracting out an employee. Human resource employees may need to be trained thoroughly in this area in order to properly handle human rights violation complaints.
The human rights employee should be aware that the old system of resolving human rights violation complaints involved the employee filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission and having an investigation conducted by the Commission before the Tribunal. The Tribunal was only involved if the investigation by the Commission proved unsatisfactory. However, the Ontario Human Rights Commission explains that the new system allows applications to be submitted directly to the Tribunal within one year of the last infringement of rights. Also, under the amended system for processing human rights violation claims, if an administrative hearing is underway within the court system and a violation of the human rights is determined, that plaintiff or defendant does not need to then submit an application with the Tribunal to be awarded for the human rights violation. A violation of the Human Rights Code is a violation of the Code, regardless if the matter is being settled in a court house or by the Tribunal. The courts possess the legal authority to remedy human rights violations along with remedies for employment disputes, etc.
The role of the human resource worker in upholding the tenets of the Canadian Human Rights Employment Act of 1977 and the Human Rights Code of 2006 is extremely important and necessary for employers. Human resource workers should be knowledgeable in the process to both submit a complaint to the employer and submit an application for a complaint to the Tribunal. Human resource workers are invaluable to a company because of the wealth of knowledge they come to possess regarding identifying, categorizing, and addressing human rights and employment violations. They assist with drafting, revising, and implementing company policies regarding various types of harassment and discrimination practices and introduce tactics and activities to combat hostile work cultures. A good human resource department should be a wealth of knowledge to employers and employees regarding policies and procedures delineated by law to help create a positive work environment and protect each entity against malicious actions. The role of the human resource worker is to be knowledgeable, dependable, neutral, and personable since they function as mediators between employers and employees. Although human resource workers can also be utilized strategically by the company that employs them to implement company policies, their primary role in this narrative is to facilitate negotiations with management and the employee in terms of dealing with issues of harassment and discrimination.
Human resource workers have a great responsibility to the company that employs them and the employees that trust them. They must be knowledgeable about the processes to file complaints, arbitration laws and agreements, and be focused on investigating and resolving disputes involving harassment and discrimination. Human resource workers provide professional, unbiased input between companies and workers about their rights during investigations and conflict resolution campaigns. Human resource workers possess a managerial component where they must make sure complainants do not face reprisal from peers or upper management. Human resource employees dispense invaluable services to employees, employers, and the public by upholding the rights of each within the context that the law prescribes.
References
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Claydon, J. (1981). Application of International Human Rights Law by Canadian Courts, The.
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Government of Canada Justice Laws. (1985).Canadian Human Rights Act. Retrieved from
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