When is discrimination not a contravention of the law?

INTERPRETIVE BULLETIN

A printable pdf version of this interpretive bulletin is available.

Please complete our reader survey to help us improve this publication.

This publication discusses Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission policies and guidelines. Commission policies and guidelines reflect the Commission's interpretation of certain sections of Alberta's  Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act as well as the Commission's interpretation of relevant case law. Case law includes legal decisions made by human rights panels and tribunals, and the courts. As the case law evolves, so do the Commission's policies and guidelines.

Commission policies and guidelines:

• help individuals, employers, service providers, and policy makers understand their rights and responsibilities under Alberta's human rights law, and
• set standards for behaviour that complies with human rights law.

The information in this publication was current at the time of publication. If you have questions related to Commission policies and guidelines, please contact the Commission.

Table of contents

Introduction

What you will find in this publication

Reasonable and justifiable discrimination

Employment, services, and tenancy

Determining if a standard amounts to reasonable and justifiable discrimination

Identifying prima facie discrimination Applying the Meiorin three-step test The duty to accommodate Exception to the Meiorin/Grismer approach

A guide to identifying reasonable and justifiable discrimination

1. New business objective
   Checklist for identifying prima facie discrimination
   Checklist for designing a new standard
2. Taking action based on an existing standard
   Checklist for analyzing an existing standard
3. Providing a defence to a complaint that a standard is discriminatory
   Checklist for defending an existing standard

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Historical overview

Appendix 2: Case law on reasonable and justifiable discrimination

Appendix 3: HRCM Act provisions regarding reasonable and justifiable discrimination 

Contact us

Introduction

The Human Rights, Citizenship and Multiculturalism Act (the HRCM Act) prohibits discrimination in Alberta in specified areas and under specified grounds. At the same time, the HRCM Act allows discrimination when it is reasonable and justifiable. For example, setting some kinds of job qualifications, or denying services to individuals or groups of individuals may, under some circumstances, be reasonable and justifiable under the HRCM Act, even if the practice is discriminatory.

This interpretive bulletin includes a number of tools to help employers, service providers, landlords, and others who must interpret and apply human rights law determine if a standard or practice conforms to the law. It provides information about reasonable and justifiable discrimination for:

• employers, service providers, and landlords who must meet the requirements of the HRCM Act
• employees, service users, and tenants
• others who need to understand or apply human rights law

The information in this bulletin is intended to:

• guide employers, service providers, and landlords in designing and implementing business practices that do not contravene the HRCM Act
• help employees, service users, and tenants to understand the concept of reasonable and justifiable discrimination
• increase awareness of situations in which an otherwise discriminatory practice would be found reasonable and justifiable

The information presented here provides general guidelines. If you have questions about a specific situation, please contact the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.

What you will find in this publication

This publication:

1. describes the concept of reasonable and justifiable discrimination
2. examines how two major Supreme Court of Canada decisions (Meiorin and Grismer) apply to the exemption for reasonable and justifiable discrimination in section 11 of the HRCM Act
3. provides a practical step-by-step guide to determine whether a practice amounts to reasonable and justifiable discrimination
4. provides contact information for the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission
5. includes as appendices:
   • an historical overview of how the concept of reasonable and justifiable discrimination has developed through Supreme Court of Canada decisions
   • a review of case law related to reasonable and justifiable discrimination
   • the provisions of the HRCM Act that address reasonable and justifiable discrimination

Reasonable and justifiable discrimination

The HRCM Act protects individuals in Alberta from discrimination in certain areas, based on specific grounds set out in the HRCM Act. These protected grounds include race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religious beliefs, gender, age, physical disability, mental disability, marital status, family status, source of income, and sexual orientation.[1]

Discrimination on the basis of these grounds (with the exception of age-see footnote 1) is prohibited in these areas:

• employment practices (section 7 of the HRCM Act)
• applications and advertisements regarding employment (section 8)
• residential or commercial tenancy (section 5)
• goods, services, accommodation, or facilities customarily available to the public (section 4)
• statements, publications, notices, signs, symbols, emblems, or other representations that are published, issued, or displayed before the public (section 3)
• membership in trade unions, employers' organizations, or occupational associations (section 9)

In addition, the equal pay area (section  6) requires employers to pay males and females the same rate of pay if they perform the same or substantially similar work.

The HRCM Act sets out specific exemptions in some areas. Section 7 allows an employer to discriminate if the reason is a bona fide occupational requirement, and section 8 allows the same exemption for employment advertising and interviewing. Section 11 allows any form of discrimination, if it is "reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances."[2] These sections of the HRCM Act are called defences, because they allow an employer, service provider, or landlord to demonstrate that their standards or policies do not amount to discrimination under the law.

Employment, services, and tenancy

The HRCM Act protects individuals against discrimination in specific areas. The areas in which discrimination most frequently occurs are employment, services, and tenancy. Discrimination appears differently in these three areas, as do "reasonable and justifiable" exemptions under section 11 of the HRCM Act.

Employment

The leading cases in reasonable and justifiable discrimination have dealt with discrimination in the area of employment. Employment, in the context of human rights law, includes any activity related to employment. The term employment is given a "large and liberal" interpretation in order to ensure that the law's protection covers all those who need it. In the cases included in the case summaries in this bulletin, employment ranges from the hiring process, to employment for wages, to the role trade unions play. Direct discrimination in employment is usually a rule that excludes an individual or group, such as a nightclub's policy of hiring only female bartenders. Indirect discrimination, which is more common, is a rule in which exclusion is not stated but has an adverse effect on a protected individual or group. A warehouse owner's requirement, for instance, that all employment candidates be able to lift forty kilograms would effectively discriminate against most female candidates. To justify any such discrimination in the area of employment, the employer must be able to establish a bona fide occupational requirement or "BFOR."

Services

As in employment, the area of services customarily available to the public has been interpreted broadly to give full effect to the law's protections. Government services; commercial services such as hotels and restaurants; clubs, including sports, veterans, and ethnic groups; and volunteer organizations have all been found to offer services to the public. However, based on human rights legislation and the common law, tribunals and courts have found reasonable and justifiable some instances of discrimination in the area of services. For instance, an Alberta human rights panel found, in the Mattern case discussed in the case summaries in Appendix 2, that a family-oriented campground's exclusion of a group of single male campers was reasonable and justifiable under section 11 of the HRCM Act.

Tenancy

The HRCM Act includes in its definition of tenancy the renting process and occupancy of any commercial or residential property available for rent. Discrimination in the area of tenancy is usually indirect. For example, landlords often set economic criteria and demand references and thereby effectively exclude, for example, individuals who depend on social assistance or have a disability. In determining if a landlord's discriminatory standards are reasonable and justifiable, tribunals and courts now rely on the Meiorin test, looking for the same elements that constitute a BFOR-see for example, the Ganser case in the Case law section of this publication in Appendix 2.

A note about the word "standards" in this publication Employers, service providers, and landlords routinely establish rules and practices to determine how they will run their organizations and control the way they provide goods and services. For example, employers establish job requirements for various positions, service providers decide who their clientele will be, and landlords make decisions to accept or reject individuals as tenants. Depending on the situation, these steps might be called rules, requirements, policies, standards, measures, or practices. All require the same approach in identifying discrimination. To simplify, this document refers to all of these as standards.

These defences set out when a discriminatory action is reasonable and justifiable, and therefore acceptable. In the 14 human rights statutes in Canada, a variety of terms describe the reasonable and justifiable exemption. In employment practices, a reasonable and justifiable practice that would otherwise be discriminatory is referred to as a bona fide occupational requirement or qualification-a "BFOR" or "BFOQ." In the areas of services customarily available to the public and tenancy, such a practice is called a bona fide reasonable justification or qualification-a "BFRJ" or "BFRQ"-or simply "reasonable and justifiable discrimination.

The Supreme Court of Canada has over the years established a comprehensive set of requirements that employers, service providers, and landlords must meet in order to show that although a practice is discriminatory, it is reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances. The Court has made it clear that the process of accommodation is an important factor in determining whether a standard or policy is reasonable and justifiable. Accommodation may involve making changes to a job, service, or rental property in order to make it accessible to persons or groups of persons who, because of a protected ground such as gender or disability, would otherwise be excluded.

Determining if a standard amounts to reasonable and justifiable discrimination

Human rights law in Canada requires employers, service providers, and landlords to search for non-discriminatory ways to meet their business objectives, while recognizing that in some circumstances it will be reasonable and justifiable to discriminate. Reasonable and justifiable discrimination can only result from a process that attempts to find a non-discriminatory, or the least discriminatory, method for meeting a business objective.

Identifying prima facie discrimination

The first question employers or service providers must answer is whether a standard results in prima facie discrimination (which means, literally, "on its face"). If a standard treats individuals or groups differently based on any of the protected grounds in the HRCM Act and results in harm to the dignity and self-worth of those affected, the standard is prima facie discrimination.

Prima facie discrimination may be either direct or indirect. Although the Supreme Court of Canada effectively eliminated this distinction in 1999, [3] the terms "direct discrimination" and "indirect discrimination" help in understanding the ways in which discrimination occurs. Direct discrimination is differential treatment based openly on a protected ground. Such a standard is said to discriminate on its face because the differential treatment is stated outright. For example, a rule that prohibits persons who experience seizures from working as forklift operators discriminates directly, in the area of employment and on the basis of disability. Direct discrimination is usually easier to identify, because the exclusion is defined by the protected ground. In the workplace, direct discrimination is usually based on age or disability. In services, direct discrimination usually involves the exclusion of an individual or group, such as denying girls and women membership on sports teams.

Indirect discrimination-also called adverse effect discrimination-results from a standard that appears to treat people equally, but results in an individual or group of individuals receiving different treatment on the basis of a protected ground. For example, a requirement that candidates for senior management in a fire department have 20 years of experience appears on its face to be neutral and to treat all candidates equally. However, women have only been working in any significant number as firefighters for a few years. The requirement, then, will have an adverse effect on potential female candidates in comparison to males. Similarly, a set of stairs in a department store may seem to present the same obstacle to all customers, but those with mobility disabilities will be adversely affected. To identify indirect discrimination, it is necessary to look behind the standard to see what effect its application will have on people, based on the protected grounds of the HRCM Act.

A thorough and systematic examination of a standard will help determine if it is discriminatory. Considering a standard's impact on each protected ground separately will simplify the analysis. Disability encompasses a wide variety of physical and mental conditions. Individuals with different disabilities may be impacted differently when a standard is applied. For instance, a rule disciplining employees who are absent more than fifteen days in a year will have a different effect on a person with a mobility disability, and a person with bi-polar disorder. A checklist to help identify situations that are prima facie discriminatory is presented later on in this publication under the heading A guide to identifying reasonable and justifiable discrimination. The checklist offers a systematic way to analyze the effect a standard will have on those who are protected under the HRCM Act.

Another way to analyze the effect of a standard is to consider the statistical impact it will have on different groups. In considering, for example, the rule requiring twenty years of experience for management candidates in a fire department, the composition of a sample of firefighters would serve as a useful guide. If the department as a whole has 200 firefighters, 15 percent of whom are female, while those with over 20 years of experience are exclusively male, the rule is discriminatory. Although the rule appears neutral, a simple statistical analysis shows that it has an adverse effect on potential female applicants.

In most cases, if a standard has a negative impact on the dignity or self-worth of anyone protected by the HRCM Act, the standard is prima facie discriminatory. In some situations, however, the group potentially affected negatively by a standard will not suffer any loss of dignity or self-worth as a result of the discriminatory standard. This is usually the case where the group in question has not suffered disadvantage historically in receiving the service or working in the area in question. For example, a fitness club exclusively for women excludes men as members, by definition. However, the dignity of men is not harmed in this case, since men have had and continue to have ample access to the service fitness clubs provide.

Applying the Meiorin three-step test

Once it is established that a standard results in prima facie discrimination, the standard must be examined to see if the discrimination is reasonable and justifiable. This examination involves a three-step test established by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 1999 Meiorin case. [4] In that case, a forest firefighter who had successfully performed her job for several years failed the aerobic portion of a new employee fitness test, and was laid off. The fitness test had been developed for the employer by a team of university researchers in response to a coroner's inquest report that recommended that the employer, for safety reasons, only assign physically fit employees to firefighting jobs. The Court established a test with three steps, all of which must be met to show that a discriminatory standard is reasonable and justifiable. Specifically, the employer must show:

1. that a workplace standard is rationally connected to the functions of the job performed,
2. that the standard was established honestly and in the good-faith belief that it was necessary to fulfill a legitimate objective, and
3. that the standard itself is reasonably necessary to accomplish the goal or purpose.

In Meiorin, the Court found that even though the employer's standard was based on safety concerns (rule 1), and established in good faith (rule 2), the employer had failed to show the requirement was reasonably necessary (rule 3) because it had not considered ways to accommodate the complainant. The Court did not provide suggestions for accommodations that the employer might have considered. However, the Court made it clear that a standard is not reasonably necessary if the employer has not fully considered alternatives that might allow the affected individual to fill the position.

Shortly afterwards, the Court applied the Meiorin three-step test in Grismer, a case involving services to the public. [5] The B.C. Superintendent of Motor Vehicles had revoked Terry Grismer's driver's licence because of Mr. Grismer's inability, as a result of physical disability, to meet a vision standard. The standard was unconditional, with no possibility of individual assessment for actual fitness to drive. The Court found that without causing the Motor Vehicles department undue hardship, Mr. Grismer could have been tested individually for his fitness to drive. By not doing so, the superintendent failed to accommodate him, and the standard was not reasonably necessary.

The duty to accommodate

The duty to accommodate obligates the service provider or employer to adjust the service or the conditions of employment in order to eliminate discrimination. The accommodation process includes identifying alternatives and choosing the approach that delivers full and genuine equality, while minimizing as much as possible the costs to the employer, landlord, or service provider.

In all situations where there is a duty to accommodate, the employer, landlord, or service provider must be prepared to provide accommodation to the point of undue hardship. Undue hardship is the point at which the value of a service or of an employment position is outweighed by the costs involved in accommodation. Among the factors that may be considered in weighing undue hardship are financial cost, safety, disruption of the workplace or the service, and impact on other staff and clients. This list is not exhaustive. The Supreme Court of Canada has found that the factors involved will depend on the circumstances of each case.

The financial cost of accommodation will be undue hardship for a service provider when it results in the service provider being unable to offer the essential elements of its service to its clients. For an employer, the financial cost of accommodation will amount to undue hardship at the point that there is more financial cost in accommodating an employee than there is value in the work the employee performs.

At the same time, the employer or service provider may well experience some real hardship in providing accommodation. Accommodation may involve substantial financial cost and other negative impact. The test is for hardship that is undue, not for hardship that the employer or service provider might reasonably be expected to bear.

Because undue hardship varies from case to case, and may involve different factors, the point of undue hardship is difficult to define precisely. What amounts to undue hardship in one situation, for example for a specific service provider providing a specific kind of accommodation, will not necessarily be adequate in another similar case. Employers and service providers might believe that they will be required to provide the same accommodation that they have seen required in other cases. Employees and service users, too, might believe that they can expect the same accommodation they have seen provided, or ordered by a court or tribunal, in other situations. The notion of undue hardship itself also creates expectations. Employees and service users may tend to believe that they have the right to accommodation that takes the employer or service provider all the way to the point of undue hardship, but less costly measures might be entirely adequate.

For more information about accommodation and undue hardship, please see the Commission's interpretive bulletins Duty to accommodate and Duty to accommodate students with disabilities in post-secondary educational institutions.

Exception to the Meiorin/Grismer approach

Section 11 of the HRCM Act allows discrimination if it can be shown to be "reasonable and justifiable in the circumstances." This language, unlike that in other Canadian human rights statutes, parallels the language of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 1 of the Charter allows the limitation of a right only when "demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society."

The impact of section 1 of the Charter was considered in Oakes [6], a 1986 criminal case, where the Supreme Court of Canada balanced the rights of the individual against the government's needs in dealing with criminal behaviour. In 1992, the Supreme Court of Canada applied Oakes in considering the effect of the Alberta human rights legislation [7] on the University of Alberta's mandatory retirement policy.[8] Applying the logic in Oakes, the Court found the policy reasonable and justifiable.

After Meiorin and Grismer, in 1999, it was unclear whether those decisions or Oakes would be used to consider the effect of section 11 when analyzing cases of discrimination to determine if the discrimination was reasonable and justifiable. Since then, Alberta courts have laid out two paths for applying section 11. Several cases in employment, tenancy, and services suggest that a Charter approach to section 11-that is, one based on Oakes-is appropriate only when government programs and services are involved. [9] Otherwise, employers, service providers, and landlords must meet the requirements set out in Meiorin.

A guide to identifying reasonable and justifiable discrimination

The application of the legal framework for determining whether a practice amounts to reasonable and justifiable discrimination will differ depending on the point at which the inquiry begins. In the ordinary course of business, there are three points at which such an inquiry is usually required:

1. when a new business objective is established and a standard created or implemented to meet the new objective,
2. when taking action based on an existing standard may have a discriminatory effect, or
3. when it becomes necessary to provide a defence to a complaint that a standard is discriminatory.

1. New business objective

Business objectives are constantly changing in response to the dynamic environment in which employers, service providers, and landlords operate. New business objectives might include improving workplace safety, customer service, public image, or production efficiency. Objectives like these might result in changes in location, financing, marketing, employment practices, or service standards.

Employers, service providers, and landlords all must meet substantially the same human rights standards when setting new objectives. In order to simplify the discussion of the requirements involved in establishing a new business objective, the following examination of the process focuses on the employment setting.

When a business objective involves a new employment-related standard, the employer must ensure that the new standard complies with the HRCM Act. If the standard is discriminatory, either directly or indirectly, it must meet the Meiorin test. The test's three steps are aimed not simply at meeting narrow legal requirements, but at crafting workplace standards that best meet business objectives while ensuring full participation by a diverse workforce.

Input from a range of people who will work with the new standard helps to ensure that a standard is truly based on objective business needs. The process of choosing a standard could include input from a cross-section of the organization, so that both operational and human resources perspectives are considered. The breadth of input will be proportional to the size of the employer. In a small operation, for instance, this process may involve only one or two people. Including a wide range of input will not only deliver a wide range of options, but will also help to establish that the employer chooses the new standard with the "honest and good-faith belief" that it is necessary to fulfill an objective, as the Meiorin test requires. For example, a new workplace standard that sets physical strength requirements might be drafted by a committee including the personnel manager, the production manager, shop floor representatives, the shop steward, and the chair of the health and safety committee.

Step one: Describe and measure the objective

By systematically describing and measuring the business objective, an employer can ensure that a new standard is rationally connected to its purpose-the first step of the Meiorin test. For example, if the business objective is to reduce the number of workplace accidents related to lack of physical strength, the initial assessment process might include:

• an inventory of workplace accidents and their severity
• a quantitative and qualitative assessment of workplace accidents related to a lack of physical strength
• an assessment of job-related factors contributing to those accidents
• an assessment of social factors among the workforce contributing to those accidents

Step two: Identify options for meeting the objective

A range of sources should be canvassed for options, and might include:

• standards used in the industry and already found effective and legally valid
• standards recommended by insurers or regulatory bodies
• standards developed in-house by the committee

For example, if the business objective is to reduce workplace accidents related to a lack of physical strength, alternatives might include changing the work routine so that less physical strength is required, requiring employees to work with a partner on tasks that require significant physical strength, using equipment that assists employees to carry out work that requires significant physical strength, or providing employees with personalized training to help them work more safely when lifting and moving heavy objects. The list need not be exhaustive, but should demonstrate that the employer has attempted to identify a reasonable number of options for meeting the business objective. This step is especially important in meeting the good-faith requirement of step 2 of the Meiorin test.

Step three: Choose the least discriminatory option to meet the objective

Review the standard

To choose the least discriminatory option for meeting the business objective, the employer must review the standard to determine whether it has a discriminatory effect. As discussed above, there is no effective difference between a standard that discriminates directly and one that discriminates indirectly by adverse effect. For example, automatically removing employees who do not meet the physical strength requirement could discriminate directly on the basis of physical disability, and indirectly based on gender. If the standard is not discriminatory, however, it may be implemented without further consideration of its effect on the human rights of the workforce.

Consider alternatives

If the standard is discriminatory, alternatives must be considered. If one or more of the alternatives does not have a discriminatory effect and still meets the business objective, the original standard will not be "reasonably necessary" in terms of the third step of the Meiorin test. For example, an employer might need to reduce injuries on the job, and impose a strength requirement that results in some employees being dismissed and some otherwise eligible employment candidates being rejected because they could not meet the standard. In its effect on people with physical disabilities, such a standard would discriminate directly. As an alternative, the employer might modify the facilities, revamp job assignments, or assign employees to work in pairs to accomplish physically strenuous tasks. If this non-discriminatory alternative also meets the employer's business objective, the original option of automatic dismissal will not be legally acceptable.

Weigh the impact

However, the other alternatives might not meet the business objective, or might also be discriminatory. If so, the importance of the business objective must be weighed against the discriminatory effect of the standard under consideration. If the employer can forgo the business objective without undue hardship, the standard is not "reasonably necessary," according to the third step of the Meiorin test. For example, a restaurant might establish a policy of hiring only men as servers to create a uniform presence in its dining room. Such a policy would discriminate against otherwise qualified women. In this situation, the restaurant could probably forgo the business objective-creating a specific image in its dining room-without undue hardship. The policy of only hiring men as servers would not be "reasonably necessary" because the employer would not experience undue hardship by doing without it.

Look for ways to accommodate employees

In other cases, abandoning the business objective will create undue hardship for the employer. If it does, the employer must then look for ways to accommodate employees who are affected by the standard, and the employer must accommodate to the point of undue hardship. This means that the search for accommodation must be thorough, and that accommodation may well involve some significant cost or inconvenience.

For example, an employer might decide to require that all customer service staff to be able to keyboard at a rate of 50 words per minute, as a way of improving the quality of service. The new requirement would be prima facie discriminatory for older employees who did not receive keyboard training in school. Permanently assigning those employees not able to meet the keyboarding standard to lower paying positions might appear at first glance to be a form of accommodation. However, a scheme of temporary reassignment, with an opportunity for employees to receive additional training to meet the standard and then return to their customer service positions, would be more effective at reducing the discrimination involved and would probably not create undue hardship for a large employer.

Checklist for identifying prima facie discrimination

In order to determine if a standard is discriminatory on its face, an employer, service provider, or landlord needs to consider the effects of the standard on each of the protected grounds in the HRCM Act. Considering these effects provides a way to analyze the impacts a standard will have.

The protected grounds are: race, colour, ancestry, place of origin, religious beliefs, gender, age, physical disability, mental disability, marital status, family status, source of income, and sexual orientation.

1. Write out the standard carefully and in detail
2. Examine and record whether the standard has a prima facie discriminatory effect on the basis of any protected ground. Potentially discriminatory elements of a standard include:
   • the date the standard came into effect: consider the establishment of the standard and how it relates to other changes in the business or service, the historical relationship to any changes in the legal or regulatory environment, and so on.
   • the group affected by the standard: specify which individuals or groups were negatively affected, and if they are protected under the HRCM Act.
   • the quantity required by the standard: if the standard sets requirements such as years of service or the ability to meet a measured performance standard, specify the measurements involved and the rationale behind them.
   • the quality required by the standard: if the standard requires a particular quality such as a certificate or membership in a specific group, describe the requirement and the rationale behind it.

Checklist for designing a new standard

1. Describe the business objective.

2. Describe the importance of the business objective to meeting the organization's mission.

3. Describe how to measure if the business objective is being met.

4. Describe the process for choosing a standard for meeting the business objective.

5. Generate a list of acceptable options for meeting the business objective.

6. Rank the acceptable options by their effectiveness in meeting the business objective.

7. Review the options in order, in terms of potential discriminatory impact, until an option is found that is not prima facie discriminatory. If a non-discriminatory option is found, implement it.

8. If all of the acceptable options discriminate, choose the least discriminatory option for meeting the business objective.

9. Specify the process for accommodating individuals who are discriminated against by the new standard.

10. Analyze and describe the hardship to the organization of accommodating individuals against whom the new standard discriminates.

11. If individuals for whom the standard is prima facie discriminatory can be accommodated without causing undue hardship, the standard meets the requirements of the HRCM Act.

12. If accommodation would cause the organization undue hardship, describe the costs, financial and otherwise, and why the organization would be unable to bear them.

13. If the standard is prima facie discriminatory, and accommodating individuals affected would cause undue hardship, the standard is protected by the HRCM Act as reasonable and justifiable discrimination.

2. Taking action based on an existing standard

The same legal principles apply to the application of existing standards as to the drafting of new ones. In other words, existing standards must meet the Meiorin test. The question of whether or not a discriminatory standard is reasonable and justifiable arises most commonly in the ordinary course of business when employers, service providers, or landlords apply existing standards. Most businesses and services rely on a complex web of standards to guide their operations. These standards may range from complex regulatory requirements, to job descriptions, to unwritten workplace policies, to the application of common sense. Standards may also be set down in collective agreements or legislation. Examples include dismissing an employee after a number of absences; requiring compliance with provincial safety standards; or making simple, on-the-spot decisions such as giving a hotel guest with a mobility disability a ground-floor hotel room.

As a preventive measure, employers and service providers should review their standards to see whether they have a discriminatory effect. If a standard appears to have a discriminatory effect, the employer must consider less discriminatory alternatives and the need for accommodation. The process is the same as that described above for designing standards to meet new business objectives.

When taking action on the basis of an existing standard, an employer or service provider should consider any discriminatory effect that might arise. Although it is unlikely in most ordinary situations that discrimination will result, if it does, the employer or service provider's actions must meet the Meiorin test.

The first question that must be considered is whether or not the standard is reasonably necessary. Even if the standard has been carefully designed through a process like the one outlined above for designing new standards, new factors may have arisen that would allow less discriminatory alternatives that would still meet the business objective, or new ways in which those affected might be accommodated.

If the standard is not the product of a careful effort to minimize discrimination, the employer or service provider must make every effort to accommodate those who experience discrimination as a result. Again, the search for accommodation must be thorough and consider every alternative short of undue hardship. Documenting the process as thoroughly as possible will ensure that there is no ambiguity in the standard, in the way it is applied, and in efforts made to accommodate.

Checklist for analyzing an existing standard

1. Review the existing standard in light of its potential discriminatory impact to determine if it is prima facie discriminatory. Maintain documentation on the process.

2. If the existing standard is not prima facie discriminatory, continue to use it as a method for meeting the business objective.

3. If the existing standard is prima facie discriminatory, the full process for developing a standard to meet a new business objective must be engaged. Follow the steps in order in the checklist for designing a new standard.

3. Providing a defence to a complaint that a standard is discriminatory

The Meiorin test is perhaps most easily applied in examining a standard that is already in place in an employment setting, or in the provision of a service to the public. This is also the situation when an employee complains about an action the employer has already taken, when someone makes a human rights complaint about an action the employer has already taken, or when someone complains about being denied access to a service or tenancy. The Meiorin test requires the employer, service provider, or landlord to:

• produce information that identifies the business objective,
• demonstrate how the standard was formulated,
• explain why the standard was chosen over other alternatives, and
• show that the individual or group was accommodated to the point of undue hardship.

A complainant is a person who believes that he or she has experienced discrimination and chooses to make a formal complaint to the Commission. A complainant may also be a person who makes a complaint on behalf of someone else.

A respondent is a business, organization, or individual that a complainant alleges, in a formal complaint to the Commission, has discriminated against him or her.

In order to respond to a human rights complaint, the employer or service provider will need to put together a chronological record of information that demonstrates how the standard was adopted. For the most part, business records such as meeting minutes, e-mails, and draft policies will provide a record of the process. These records will also provide a list of people who participated in developing the standard and can provide further information about the process. If experts were involved, their evidence will be particularly helpful for demonstrating why the standard was chosen, and why any less discriminatory alternatives could not meet the business objectives. The evidence of experts will also be helpful in determining the degree to which the standard remained reasonably necessary after its inception, since a complaint about the standard may well take place long after it was adopted.

In some cases, a standard has been adopted informally, years before a complaint about it has been made. The informality of the process that established the standard and the passage of time may make it very difficult for respondents to a human rights complaint to put together all of the information needed to defend a standard as reasonable and justifiable. In such a situation, a respondent may want to assume that the complainant has established a prima facie case of discrimination, and move directly to showing that the complainant was accommodated, to the point of undue hardship.

In satisfying the Meiorin requirements that the standard be rationally connected to the objective and established in the honest and good-faith belief that it was reasonably necessary, a respondent can also work "from the bottom up" and show how the standard has worked in practice. If the standard can be shown to have served effectively in meeting the business objective, without a discriminatory result, it is likely to meet the first two of the Meiorin steps. A statistical analysis of the historical effect of a standard is an example of this kind of inquiry. For example, if a grocery wholesaler had established a physical strength requirement for warehouse positions, no women working at the time had lost their jobs as a result, and equal numbers of men and women had been hired in the intervening five years, the standard does not result in discrimination by keeping women out of the position.

In most cases, however, if the standard is not the product of a thorough process like that described in this bulletin, the employer or service provider will probably not be able to show that there were no less discriminatory alternatives available, or that the complainant was accommodated to the point of undue hardship.

Checklist for defending an existing standard

1. Review the existing standard to determine whether it is prima facie discriminatory.

2. If the standard is prima facie discriminatory, explain why. Include in this analysis the prohibited ground involved, the area of discrimination, the details of the complaint, supporting information regarding the standard and its establishment, and relevant case law.

3. If the standard is not prima facie discriminatory, the defence does not necessarily need to proceed further. If the standard is prima facie discriminatory, or if there is doubt, it will be necessary to examine the standard in light of the Meiorin test, as described below.

4. Is the standard rationally connected to its objective?

• Describe the business objective.
• Describe how meeting the business objective was measured.
• Describe how the standard met the business objective.
• Demonstrate that the standard is used by the industry to meet the business objective.

5. Was the standard adopted with an honest and good-faith belief that it was necessary?

• Describe the importance of the business objective for meeting the organization's mission.
• List available documentation of the process used to develop the standard, including meeting minutes, correspondence, draft standards, and the approval process.
• Describe the process for choosing the standard for meeting the business objective.
• List the acceptable options for meeting the business objective.
• Explain how the discriminatory effect of the acceptable options for meeting the business objective was considered when the standard was chosen.

6. Was the standard reasonably necessary for meeting the business objective?

• Describe the accommodation provided for individuals against whom the standard discriminated. Explain the process used to develop the accommodation.
• Describe the hardship caused to the organization by the accommodation process.
• If further accommodation would cause the organization undue hardship, explain why. Will the hardship experienced by the organization be greater than the hardship experienced by the individuals affected by the discrimination?

Conclusion

This bulletin has presented a practical guide for:

• creating, reviewing, and adjusting standards to eliminate discrimination, and
• identifying situations in which it is reasonable and justifiable to discriminate.

The appendices provide additional resources for determining whether discrimination is reasonable and justifiable.

[1] Under the HRCM Act, age is not a protected ground in the area of tenancy or the area of goods, services, accommodation or facilities customarily available to the public. Although sexual orientation is not explicitly stated in the Act, the Government of Alberta agreed to read it in as a protected ground, effective April 2, 1998. For more information, see the Commission information sheet Protected areas and grounds under the Human Rights, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism Act.

[2] See Appendix 3 for full text of sections 7, 8, and 11.

[3] See discussion below of the Meiorin decision

[4]  British Columbia (Public Service Employee Relations Commission) v. BCGSEU [1999] 3 S.C.R. 3.

[5] British Columbia (Superintendent of Motor Vehicles) v. British Columbia (Council of Human Rights) [1999] 3 S.C.R. 868.

[6] R. v. Oakes [1986] 1 S.C.R. 103

[7] In force at the time was the Alberta Individual's Rights Protection Act, section 11.1 of which had the same effect as the current section 11 of the HRCM Act.

[8] Dickason v. University of Alberta [1992] 2 S.C.R. 1103

[9] See, for example, Mattern v. Spruce Bay Resort (2000), CHRR Doc. 00-102 (Alta. H.R.P.) and Ganser v. Rosewood Estates Condominium Corp. (No. 1) (2002), 42 C.H.R.R. D/264 (Alta. H.R.P.).

Please note: A complaint must be made to the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission within one year after the alleged incident.

The website links in this publication are provided as a service and were accurate at the time of publication. The Commission is not responsible for content of websites other than its own. If you have questions about website links or their content, please contact the administrator of the website in question.

August 2009

 

• Home
• Accessibility
• Contact Us
• Search

• Copyright
• Privacy Statement

© 1998 - 2012 Government of Alberta

RDP-1257