Understanding the Canadian Human Rights Act: What HR Professionals Need to Know

According to a government survey, 7.4% of employees in the Canadian workplace have felt discriminated against—a shocking and worrying statistic. Workers who made these claims were typically in sectors like courier services (10.4%) and rail transportation (10%).

As HR representatives, it’s important to understand and uphold the Canadian Human Rights Act at your organization to avoid discrimination and ensure fair treatment in the workplace. We always want our teams to feel supported, appreciated and accepted in their roles and clear policies that match the act help with this.

If left ignored, discrimination could lead to inequity and harassment in the workplace, and even legal issues for your business. It could also risk damaging your company’s reputation and affect employee morale and retention. In this guide, we’ll explore the Canadian Human Rights Act, so you can follow it correctly in your workplace.

What is the Canadian Human Rights Act?

The Canadian Human Rights Act was created in 1977 by the Canadian Parliament to ensure all employees in Canada are treated fairly and equally. The law applies to those in the Federal government, First Nations governments, or private companies regulated by the government, such as banks, telecommunications, and transport companies.

Some of the key objectives of this human rights legislation are:

• Preventing discrimination: For example, based on race, gender, disability, religion, sexual orientation and marital status.
• Protecting against retaliation: People who file complaints or are involved in cases can’t be discriminated against.
• Remedies: For example, financial compensation or role reinstatement. It also sometimes includes changes in practices to prevent further incidents.

It’s important to note that human rights aren’t something to be earned, but a natural right we’re all born with. Employees shouldn’t have to worry about being harassed or discriminated against in the workplace based on protected characteristics, like religion, gender, or age.

The Canadian Human Rights Act states what constitutes this kind of discrimination and clarifies the boundaries.

Key considerations for HR professionals

HR professionals play a critical role in upholding the Canadian Human Rights Act within their organizations. This act is designed to ensure the work environment is a fair and equal place for all employees, helping to foster an inclusive and legally compliant workplace.

There are two key areas to be aware of:

• Prohibited Grounds of discrimination: These refer to the characteristics that the act protects. For example, race, gender, ethnic origin, sexuality and marital status.
• Scope of application: This is where and whom the act applies to.

The act has a number of key purposes in businesses, including to:

• Accommodate employees. Ensuring rights and freedoms such as disabilities and religious practices are respectfully addressed.
• Prevent discrimination and harassment: By having clear guidelines, policies, reporting mechanisms and training in place.
• Address systemic discrimination: Identifying and removing any such practices that disadvantage individuals throughout the entire organization.

Examples of workplace discrimination and harassment

Gaining a better understanding of discriminatory behavior can help you identify it if it occurs in the workplace. Below are some practical examples of things to be aware of:

• Age discrimination in hiring: For example, rejecting a potential candidate in the hiring process because they’re too old or young, instead of assessing their skills and experience impartially.
• Unwanted comments or harassment: Making sexual jokes or remarks, insinuations or gestures about ethnicity, gender identity, or disability.
• Religious accommodation issues: Not accounting for religious holidays, prayer times or other elements of religious life. This is to ensure that it never comes down to a choice of “faith” or “work” but incorporates both.
• Disability accommodation gaps: For example, not providing accessible workstations or making reasonable accommodations for disabled employees. For example, stairlifts for wheelchair users. and specially adapted laptops for those who are visually impaired.
• Promotion or evaluation bias: Overlooking employees for promotion based on stereotypes related to ethnicity, age, or gender, as opposed to competence.

How HR teams can ensure CHRA compliance

As an HR professional, you’re at the helm to ensure the Canadian Human Rights Act is followed correctly in your organization. It’s not just a legal requirement, but also a strategic approach to ensure a fair workplace for all employees.

By proactively implementing it, you can ensure there’s no discrimination in the workplace, allowing the business to operate effectively. Some things you can do to ensure this are:

• Clear anti-discrimination policies: Develop easy-to-understand policies that explicitly prohibit discrimination. They should be easily accessible, using clear language to ensure transparency.
• Training and workshops: Provide mandatory training for all levels to ensure people are in the know. Regular workshops can help you reinforce these to maintain policy consistency.
• Effective HR software and tracking systems: Use automated systems to manage employee records. You can also track if employees have done the training and monitor incident reports. BambooHR^® makes it much easier to manage documents and data all in one place.
• Accommodation processes: Ensure that certain accommodations and arrangements are upheld and revised, such as accommodating religious practices and disabled access.
• Regular audits and reviews: A constant review of the practices you have in place can ensure you have human rights legislation implemented correctly.

The Canadian Human Rights Act FAQs

Still have questions? We’ve outlined a few final points on the Canadian Human Rights Act below.

What is Section 7 of the Canadian Human Rights Act?

Section 7 of the Canadian Human Rights Act prevents discrimination in wages between men and women. It ensures there are no discrepancies in salaries based on the same work. This helps to mitigate, or at least shrink, the gender pay gap and ensure equal pay for all, regardless of gender.

What is an example of unfair treatment at work?

Unfair treatment at work normally involves discriminatory practices. An example of unfair treatment at work would be paying a woman less for doing the same job as a man. Unfair treatment could also include firing an employee because they filed a complaint, or making unprofessional requests or comments.

What are the different types of discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act?

Discrimination under the Canadian Human Rights Act includes:

• Direct discrimination: Intentional unequal treatment
• Indirect discrimination: Policies that disadvantage certain groups.
• Harassment: Offensive or humiliating conduct
• Victimization: Retaliation for asserting rights.

These ensure workplaces protect equality, dignity, and fair treatment for all employees.