“Do you have sleep apnea? Do you have plantar warts? Have you ever had an episode of depression? It is clear that in 2022, unfortunately, employers are still including unjustified medical questions in their hiring process.
Posted at 4:00 p.m.
Whether they are put in place or whether they persist through ignorance, automatism or malevolence, these practices have no place. The Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse and the Order of Chartered Human Resources Advisors are once again joining their voices to raise awareness among Quebec organizations of hiring practices that may include discriminatory elements.
The Commission strives to educate workers about their rights and employers about their obligations, in addition to dealing with complaints of discrimination. The Order rigorously oversees its certified professionals to ensure that the CHRPs and CRIAs practice according to the rules of the art.
The Commission and the Order have received several complaints and testimonies confirming that certain organizations use medical forms or ask questions relating to the physical and psychological health of individuals during interviews, without these questions being justified by the skills required by the position at provide.
Questions that are sometimes as unusual as they are intrusive are asked during a first contact with all candidates, regardless of the position.
Article 18.1 of the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which applies to all employers, is nevertheless clear: it is forbidden to ask questions relating to the state of health of candidates, unless these questions are related skills or qualities required to adequately occupy the position.
It is therefore essential to have a description of the tasks essential to the safe and efficient performance of the job, in order to be able to objectively analyze the physical and mental challenges that the position to be filled presents, in order to properly formulate the questions to ask during the interview or in the form. Remember that even when a third party is involved in the deployment of the hiring process, this does not relieve the organization of its responsibilities. Her reputation is at stake and she could still face legal action.
Beyond legal considerations, attitudes are changing. Equity, diversity and inclusion are now core values of our company, which we can only applaud. Organizations must invest in it with conviction because of their social responsibility for fairness, but also for the resulting business benefits. A more equitable, diverse and inclusive business provides more opportunities for learning, innovation, creativity and opportunities to see things differently.
Increasingly, organizations pride themselves on being inclusive, but concrete actions still need to follow the rhetoric. This posture cannot coexist with discriminatory hiring processes.
Moreover, while a labor shortage is raging, organizations must show even more openness and benevolence. They must offer a quality candidate experience and treat everyone fairly.
To equip the various actors, an employer’s guide, produced by the Commission and distributed with the help of the Order as part of the campaign Recruit without discrimination, provides examples of questions to avoid. We invite employers to analyze their recruitment practices and tools, in the light of this information, in order to ensure that they are free from potentially discriminatory practices.
In conclusion, remember that you cannot ask a question about health status simply for the sake of hiring the youngest, the healthiest, the most productive or the person with the least risk of requesting illness or parental leave. One form cannot be replicated for all recruitment positions for the sake of efficiency; it must be directly related to the task.
Let us not deprive ourselves of the benefit of hiring a person capable of enriching our company and do not risk rejecting a quality application, simply to ask a question which turns out to be non-essential, indiscreet, exclusive and above all illegal.