Legislation Affecting Recruitment and Selection in Canada

Major types of legislation that affect recruitment and selection in a non-unionized workplace in Ontario (Canada).

This paper highlights on the nature of the recruitment and selection of employees, the employment relationships in a non-unionized workplace environment; the various legislations that exist in Ontario, the fundamental economic determinants in terms of the wages and the working conditions, the Canadian common law of employment that helps to specify the legal remedies that are availed for a wrongly dismissed employee. It also covers the various statutes such as the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Employment Equity Act. (Catano Et al, 2010).

The legislations on recruitment and selection processes at a non-unionized workplace influences the labor market, the collective bargain on the health policies, it promotes the rights and the responsibilities of the employers, the employees and the government which is responsible for the regulation and promotion of the of workplace safety and health status with respect to the evolving economic and social factors.

According to Gunderson & Taras (2009), the major legislations that regulate the recruitment and selection of the employees both in the public and private sector in Ontario province of Canada include; the common law of contract, the legislation that governs the collective bargaining and the primary employment statutes (the Employment Standards Act, the Labor Relations Act, the Pay Equity Act, the Human Rights Code and the Occupational Health and safety Act).

Employment Standards Act.

This Act ensures that the recruitment and selection exercise provides the Ontario province with the right workforce with the right job and at the right time. It has changed its approach in order to incorporate the value added services. This act provides guidance in the areas that requires workforce planning, the attraction and selection of able employees. To help the non unionized organizations to achieve their future goals and the objectives, this act has the following objectives.

Provision of advice to the management concerning the levels of organizational recruitment approaches and the selection strategies.

It provides guidance in conducting the proactive and the targeted recruitment drives.

It helps to strengthen the workforce through the collaboration with the sectors of workforce planning and the succession planning initiatives.

It ensures the best approaches in the staffing and the talent recruitment that respect the Ontario people’s diversity.

The Pay Equity Act

This act was made law in Ontario so as to narrow the wage difference between women’s and men’s wages. This law covers those who work in a broader public sector and the private sector and the private sector employers with more than ten employees. However it does not cover the federal government employment issues, the companies that are federally regulated such as the chartered banks and the companies under the private sector with fewer than ten employees.

The law requires the employer to make a comparison between the male and females jobs whereby they must be paid a comparatively equal wage in case the jobs equalize. The employer groups the jobs into classes which classified as either female dominated or male dominated or Neutral. The employer then makes use of a job comparison means of evaluating the women’s and men’s jobs. During job recruitment and selection, this law ensures gender neutrality; therefore there is no favoring for the work done in men’s jobs over the work done in the women’s jobs. This is based on the skills, efforts, the responsibilities and the working conditions.

The Employee and the Labor Relations Act

This act has the following obligations;

It provides the labor relations strategies in order to support the optimal employee and the labor relations in a responsible manner.

It develops and maintains a positive labor relation coupled with the bargaining agents and also manages the existing processes with the aim of improving the overall working relations between the employees.

The act provides the employment advice in addition to the legislative rights and the compliance especially with the matters relating to unionized and the non-unionized workplaces.

It addresses the unique employee and the labor relations in line with departmental and the Ontario provincial strategies for recruitment and selection of the employees.

The Human Rights Code

This ensures that the Ontario province is compliant with the legislative requirements under the employment standards Act, the accessibility to recruitment and selection for the Ontarians with disability under the Occupational Health & the safety Act. The principle of the human rights ensures that diversity and equity are reflected in the corporate policies, the procedures and the codes of practice. Its obligations include,

The proactive education of the employees on issues concerning their rights and the responsibilities that have been laid down in the Ontario Human rights code.

Carrying out of the investigations that on harassment and the discrimination of the complaints, preparation of the reports on the findings.

Monitoring of the case laws in relation to employers under the Ontario Human Rights code.

The Health & safety Act

This Act is involved in the safety and the wellness-related policies which promote the healthy living and working environment. Its obligation;

It develops and supports the effective health and the safety programs which help to prevent the workplace injuries and achievement of the compliance with the legislation.

It advices on the disability matters that relate to the performance and the attendance management.

These legislations are necessary in both unionized and non-unionized workplaces. This is evident in the case of substance and drug abuse where the Ontarian jurisdiction protects the employee’s under the condition of undue hardship but the employer’s have a chance to extent their interests. (Das, 2006) Under the Canadian legislation and the Ontario jurisdiction, in case an employee shows the symptoms of substance and drug abuse, then the employer is not justified to terminate the employee’s services but instead the employer should follow the right procedure that requires the affected employee to undergo the rehabilitation treatment under the services of a drug specialist, if the employ successfully undergoes the rehabilitation process but late on succumbs to the same problem due to the high risk factor relapse that is associated with the alcohol, then the employer is still not justified to terminate the employee’s services but give him a chance under the restricted work condition whereby if the affected employee cannot be reformed further then the employer is justified to terminate the services under the legislations on the grounds of the undue hardship.

Yes, the legislations above provides for the protection of the employees with prohibited behavior, for instance an employee with symptoms of drug and substance abuse can openly refuse the claims even after the successive tests persistently shows positive results , but still the employer is not obliged to terminate the employees services instead the employee is supposed to undergo a specialized rehabilitation process that is employer supported, again if the affected employee still falls under the effects of drugs relapse, there is still a chance of survival under the work conditioned environment which if failed then the employee is duped to have reached the undue hard ship point as stated by the Canadian legislations and the Ontarian jurisdiction. This is the evidence that the legal provisions in the Canadian legislation have meaningful provision from the prohibited behavior.