Question

Labour Relations

Case Study- Chapter 2- The Environment

The Dyer’s Bay school board employs 90 cleaners. The cleaners are responsible for school classrooms, hallways, offices, and some exterior maintenance work, such as snow shovelling. The cleaners’ job duties include lifting 22-kilogram pails that contain five gallons of cleaner and to stack them three pails high in the supply room. The job also includes lifting 21-kilogram boxes of paper, which are stacked five boxes high. It was estimated that the lifting was an occasional demand that accounted for about 13 percent of each shift. The school board established a job specification that cleaners must be able to lift 23 kilograms from floor to shoulder height. The board established a lifting test to determine if candidates could meet the required standard. Three individuals—Sharon, Lucy, and Colleen—were offered jobs as cleaners. The employment offers were conditional upon the candidates passing a physical-demands assessment, which included the lifting test. When it was established that the three candidates could not pass the test because they were only able to lift 16 kilograms, their offers of employment were withdrawn. The union representing the cleaners filed a grievance challenging the 23-kilogram lifting job qualification. At a grievance meeting, it was established that 9 of 68 women and 2 of 245 men who had previously taken the test had failed. It was also found that four of the nine women who initially failed the test passed after being provided training and an opportunity to retake the test. At the arbitration hearing, the union provided evidence establishing that some cleaners took bundles of paper out of the boxes in the stacking process. Also, the cleaning supplies could be ordered in cases containing 4 one-gallon containers, which weighed 4.5 kilograms each. Buying the cleaning supplies in the smaller containers increased the cost by 10 percent. The employer argued that the 23-kilogram lifting requirement was a safety issue, and it was the same for all candidates. The employer provided evidence that it was in financial difficulty and had to cut costs wherever possible.

Questions:

1. Is there discrimination in this situation?

2. Assume that you are the decision maker in this situation. Outline what your decision would be and provide reasons for your decision

Answer 1

1. There is no discrimination in this situation. It is a policy made by the company for all candidates irrespespective of their gender, age or any other factor of discrimination. It is a safety requirement for the job that the employees hired for it are able to lift up to 23 kilograms of weight. The company can alter the policy to not offer jobs to such employees who cannot pass this test as 1. it is required for only 13% of the shift and the specific weight lifting jobs can be allocated to employees who are able to do it keeping it only for their shifts and 2. letting the candidate go through a training for the same before testing them for this parameter. Hence the company policy might change the policy of recruitment based on the weight lifting metric but it is not a case of discrimination where one is discriminated from other as all the employees are equally tested on this metric.

2. If I were the decision maker in this situation then I would advice the employer to change the policy of not offering jobs to such employees who cannot pass the test of lifting 23 kgs of weight as it is required for only 13% of the shift and the specific weight lifting jobs can be allocated to employees who are able to do it by allocating it only for their shifts. Also there is improvement seen in employees after a traning being given to them for lifting the 23 kg weight hence the candidate can go through a training for the same before testing them for this parameter if he qualifies for the job in all other aspects.