Disability discrimination: employers are obliged to hire without prejudice

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Are employers obligated to ensure that their recruitment process does not bias people with disabilities?

CAREERS’ recruitment expert panel answers readers’ questions every week. there is a question? Email careers_qs@news.com.au

Are employers obligated to ensure that their recruitment process does not bias people with disabilities?

Andrew Sullivan

managing Director,

Sullivan Consulting

Absolutely! Legally speaking, there is legislation to protect persons with disabilities from discrimination in the recruitment process and in the workplace. Employers are also obliged to be fair to their own companies in the recruitment process, because disability does not indicate a person’s ability, skill level, or professional ethics. Therefore, by adopting a biased approach, employers run the risk of unfairly rejecting or belittling promising candidates. There are currently more than 10,000 jobs in South Australia, so there are plenty of opportunities there!

Alexandra Rosser

Organization leader Psychological counseling,

Stilwell Management consultant

It is illegal for employers to discriminate against others on the grounds of disability, and this is included in the recruitment process. Some ways that employers can avoid disability discrimination in recruitment are to ensure that job advertisements do not mention personal characteristics that are not related to the successful performance of the role, provide a series of ways people can apply for the role, and make reasonable adjustments to allow people with disabilities to participate in interviews comfortably. Employers are allowed to ask reasonable questions about a person’s disability, with the specific purpose of determining whether the person can perform the inherent requirements of the position, assessing any WHS risks faced by the person or others, and determining the adjustments that may be required under the following circumstances The person is hired.

Lisa Morris

Director,

Hayes

Employers have an obligation to ensure that their recruitment process is free of discrimination and prejudice. This includes treating all candidates in the same way, providing additional facilities for those who may need them, such as wheelchair access, and not asking candidates with irrelevant personal questions. At Hays, we also work with employers to remove any obstacles in the recruitment or selection process that might prevent candidates with disabilities from applying for jobs or advancing their applications. As part of this, we aim to educate hiring managers about unconscious biases, which may influence hiring decisions. For example, for any hiring manager who wants to ensure that their hiring choices are not biased, a good starting point is to take the implicit association test, especially the disability implicit association test.

Megan Nicholson

Employers must not be prejudiced against people in the recruitment process, this includes people with disabilities

Employers must comply with their internal equal opportunity or anti-discrimination policies and state equal opportunity laws. Employers need to advertise, select a suitable range of candidates, and interview fairly and objectively. It includes not asking questions about protected characteristics-this includes disability-and providing jobs objectively based on a specific set of skills required by the role.

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