Equality and Human Rights in Employment
[Introduction]: "Labour law has long been grounded in equality considerations. Historically, the main issue has been diminishing the inequality of bargaining power between employers and employees through trade unions. Today, when we speak of equality rights in the workplace, we are more likely referring to protections against discrimination — to diminishing sexism, racism, and homophobia, and to enhancing the ease with which persons with disabilities can participate fully in the workforce. In this regard, labour relations are subject to the constraints of equality law. The equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply to labour and employment legislation and to its application by administrative tribunals, as well as to any employment relationship that has a nexus with government. Human rights legislation applies to employers, unions, and employees in the public and private sectors, and it may take primacy over other legislation.
As discussed in Chapter 9, grievance arbitrators have jurisdiction, to an increasing degree, to apply human rights legislation and the equality provisions of the Charter. Other statutes also explicitly promote particular aspects of equality. Pay equity legislation, for example, reflects important policy decisions about equality relationships in the workplace and about the social status of employees. Other important human rights issues, which have received growing recognition, include workplace harassment and privacy in the workplace.
In this chapter, we address some of the most pressing equality issues involved in labour relations, a few of which were mentioned in earlier chapters. We begin with an overview of the meanings given to equality and the identification of equality-seeking groups. We then discuss specific areas of equality and human rights law, such as harassment law, pay equity law, the duty to accommodate, and privacy issues, as they apply in the labour and employment context. Some traditional labour relations principles, such as respect for seniority, must be reconciled with equality requirements."
