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Ontario Labor Discrimination - How should I proceed?
Dread Pirate Arbuthnot
OMG WRIGGLYT O X O P L A S M O S I SRegistered User regular
OMG WRIGGLYT O X O P L A S M O S I SRegistered User regular
I'm a 17 year old female looking for a job in Ontario. I was dropping off resumes at local resturants and was speaking to the manager of a local Swiss Chalet. I gave her my resume, which lists extensive experience as a dishwasher during busy hours, and told her I was looking for work as a dishwasher. Right away, without even glancing at my resume, she told me that the back of the house positions were exclusively for men and then asked me if I was eighteen. If I were eighteen, I would have my SmartServe license which makes me eligble for the waitress position.
I told her that I have worked as a dishwasher before in a similar restaurant chain. I said this very politely, and she smiled back at me and explained the back of the house positions were reserved for men because only they could do the heavy lifting - which completely ignored what I told her.
Shocked and astonished, I wandered out of the resturant, finished dropping off my resumes, and came home.
I've looked this up, and this is totally and definately against Ontario labor laws. It has to be, right? However, a call to the Ontario Humans Rights Commission lead to a dizzying confusion as I was bombared with automatic messages, circular messages that took me back to the same message, and warnings along the way that my complaint may not even be considered.
I feel helpless and confused. What action should I take? I really want to fight this.
I told her that I have worked as a dishwasher before in a similar restaurant chain. I said this very politely, and she smiled back at me and explained the back of the house positions were reserved for men because only they could do the heavy lifting - which completely ignored what I told her.
Shocked and astonished, I wandered out of the resturant, finished dropping off my resumes, and came home.
I've looked this up, and this is totally and definately against Ontario labor laws. It has to be, right? However, a call to the Ontario Humans Rights Commission lead to a dizzying confusion as I was bombared with automatic messages, circular messages that took me back to the same message, and warnings along the way that my complaint may not even be considered.
I feel helpless and confused. What action should I take? I really want to fight this.
Dread Pirate Arbuthnot on
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That sounds like what people fear equal opportunity laws are, not what they are in reality.
https://www.empstdsclaims.labour.gov.on.ca/EClaim/welcome.do?action=language&language=en
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/commission/complaint_processing_guides/en/commission/complaint_processing_guides/filecomplaints has some info
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/resources/Guides/GuideSexHarComments?page=GuideSexHarComments-WHERE.html may be of interest as well
No, thats what they actually are. The fear is generally that a woman can get by with significantly less qualification than a man, but thats just not true, it requires that all qualifications be equal or at least very close.
well, in Canuckia, only gov't jobs are legally required to do equal opportunity hiring. Some company's choose to agree to follow along with that, or if they've had gender discrimination issues they may be legally required to adopt equal opportunity hiring (or well, any other kind of discrimination really)... but most company's who aren't run by the gov't and haven't screwed up generally aren't required to follow equal opportunity stuff..
Uhh what?
http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/issues/employment
"The Code prohibits discrimination in employment on the grounds of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, record of offences, marital status, same-sex partnership status, family status and handicap.
The Ontario Human Rights Commission (the Commission) considers "employment" to include full-time and part-time work, contract work, temporary work for an agency, and probationary periods. "Employment" may even include volunteer work."
EDIT: Oh nevermind I misread what it said. He said the female would be picked over the male, where our laws just state anyone who is qualified should be considered. My bad sorry!
Well it's worth a shot. Someone linked to the claim form for the OHRC but as was said, they take a long time and a lot of time the site seems to indicate that they should be used as a last resort if other avenues do not get you the result you are looking for.
Well, that's a qualification, is it not? I mean its not as blatant as "MBA from Harvard" or w/e, but if a job requires lifting 100 pounds and you can't do it, man or woman, you shouldn't be doing that job. I don't really see what that example has to do with equal opportunity at all.
water spirals the wrong way out the sink
That would have been the right thing to do, yes. Or even better, hire her on a probational basis and see if she can do it 3 times a night. (:winky:)
Steam | Live
I think you should follow up on this as far as it will go. No excuse for this kind of idiocy.
What the fuck is wrong with you anyhow?
SHE HAS EXPERIENCE DOING THIS WORK. CLEARLY SHE MUST BE CAPABLE OF DOING THIS KIND OF WORK. SHE HAS BEEN TOLD THAT SHE CANNOT DO THIS KIND OF WORK BECAUSE SHE LACKS A PENIS. THAT IS DISCRIMINATION.
It's actually in the charter of rights and freedoms that gender cannot be used as a basis for discrimination. At all. Anywhere. If a male and a female applicant show up and they can both meet the minimum job standards (in this case probably the ability to lift about 40 pounds), you cannot choose the man based on the fact that he's a man. There may be some other basis, he might demonstrate a better attitude or seem like a better fit for the organizational culture or whatever else, but his manliness isn't a reasonable factor.
Here's my take, though:
Do you really care?
No, honestly lady. Does it really matter?
They've burned themselves by refusing to hire qualified personnel to fill a labour gap. They're suffering as a result. This is the best reason not to discriminate based on bullshit grounds, it's really just not an efficient way to run a business.
You don't want to work there. Obviously they're sexist pricks and clearly you cannot expect fair or reasonable treatment there. So why not just look for work elsewhere? You're only 17 and you're just looking for kitchen work. It's not like you were applying to be an astronaut and told no, you don't have a dick, and now you have no other options and have to switch fields. There are many restaurants that will happily pay you just a sliver above minimum wage to wash their dishes and there's no reason you should settle for one that won't treat you well.
You're too young to work for someone like that. Work somewhere you'll be treated well. Sure, send off a letter or a phone call to head office, it'll probably bring some shit down on that jerk you dealt with (and they richly have it coming) but do you really care enough to go through the legal process? You're in the right, but they get a lot of complaints and if yours seems minor it might not be addressed the way you'd want it to be and there's virtually nothing for you to get out of the complaint anyways. You're not going to get lost wages or damages or anything like that from this one.
I say it's complete shit, but let them fuck themselves and move on. You'll be happier if you pick battles that will matter to you in the long run.
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH