The Ordre des Conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA) [Order of Chartered Human Resource Managers] recently disciplined a manager employed by the Commission scolaire de Montréal (CSDM) who drafted and used discriminatory pre-hiring medical forms.
The facts
A CSDM manager was instructed by management to draft pre-hiring medical forms for various positions within the school board (support employees, professionals, teachers, etc.).
However, no preliminary research was carried out in advance by the manager in order to ensure that questions of a medical nature put to candidates were tailored to the requirements or the capacities required to hold the job position(s).
On the contrary, the manager acknowledged “that the questions were designed to manage costs related to social benefits and unemployment (wage) insurance and to filter out the candidates across a broad spectrum of positions […]”. In other words, the manager quite simply eliminated candidates likely to have an adverse impact on its insurance and CNESST records.
She also admitted being aware that the questions set forth in the forms were probably controversial, but that it was worth the risk, in order to “cut back” wage-loss replacement costs.
The questions prepared by the manager in the job application procedure included the following:
- Have you ever been a victim of a workplace accident or occupational disease? If so, please provide details of the nature of the workplace accident or occupational disease and, where applicable, the temporary or permanent disability suffered as a result of the accident or disease.
- Do you have an existing record on file with the Commission de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CSST) ? If so, please provide details.
- Do you take any prescription medicine, either temporarily or permanently, or has a physician prescribed medication that you are required to take on a temporary or permanent basis? If so, please provide details.
The decision
The disciplinary council of the CRHA fined the CSDM $2500 for breach of the following provision of the Code of ethics of the members of the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines et en relations industrielles agréés du Québec:
“12. A member shall avoid any attitude or method which could harm the reputation of the profession and his proficiency to serve the public interest. He shall also avoid discriminatory, fraudulent or illegal practices and shall refuse to participate in such practices.”
She was ordered to refrain from participating in any selection process whatsoever for a period of six months, and to follow several training course dealing with discriminatory hiring practices.
