Employment Equity: FAQ

1. What is Equity?

Equity does not mean that everyone is the same. Equity means that everyone in the organization has the opportunity to be accepted for themselves, to feel part of the organization and to use their full range of skills and abilities. Equity not only means removing barriers to getting into the organization but also the barriers created by unfairness and prejudice within the organization. It means being fair and flexible, accommodating cultural and physical differences, and allowing people to be different yet equal.

Employment Equity is a program designed to ensure that all job applicants and employees have a fair chance in the workplace. It is achieved when no person is denied employment opportunities or benefits for reasons unrelated to their abilities.

An employment equity program attempts to achieve:

• A workforce that reflects the diversity of the available labour force
• Employment systems, policies and practices that support the recruitment, retention and promotion of designated group members
• Employment systems that ensure all employees have an equitable opportunity to develop their abilities, realize their expectations and make the best contribution possible to the workplace

3. What is Affirmative Action?

Affirmative Action is a process by which equality in the workplace is achieved through the active elimination of systemic discrimination. Affirmative Action measures are pro-active, temporary measures designed to remedy the effects of discrimination against members of the designated groups, Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities,visible minorities, and women. Affirmative Action through an Employment Equity program strives to "level the playing field" for all employees.

4. What is systemic discrimination?

Systemic discrimination occurs when groups of people are excluded from the workplace for reasons not related to job requirements. It results from entrenched policies or practices that are part of the normal operation of employment systems which unintentionally discriminate. Often hidden, systemic discrimination has an adverse affect on Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, and women.

Managers assume that because the workplace is a university, the best candidates for clerical positions are those with a university degree.

This constitutes systemic discrimination because the job requirements for clerical work can usually be met very well without a university degree. The degree requirement may exclude many qualified people.

5. What are the "designated groups"?

In 1984, Judge Rosalie Abella was commissioned by the Government of Canada to examine equality in employment. The Commission on Equality in Employment, 1984 (The Abella Commission) found that individuals from four designated groups experienced systemic discrimination and were excluded from equal participation in the labour market. As a whole, they experienced higher levels of unemployment or underemployment, lower pay for equal qualifications and lower participation in positions of authority. The four designated groups are:

1.    Women

2.    A person with a disability has a long-term or recurring physical, mental, sensory, psychiatric or learning impairment and who consider themselves to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of that impairment, or believe that an employer or potential employer is likely to consider her/him to be disadvantaged in employment by reason of the impairment and includes persons whose functional limitations owing to her/his impairment have been accommodated in her/his current job or workplace. Examples of disabilities include, but are not limited to the following:

• Co-ordination or dexterity impairment (difficulty using hands or arms)
• Mobility impairment (difficulty moving around, for example, from one office to another or up and down stairs)
• Blind or visual impairment (unable to see or difficulty seeing)
• Deaf or hard of hearing impairment (unable to hear or difficulty hearing)
• Speech impairment (unable to speak or difficulty speaking and being understood)
• Other disability (including learning disabilities, developmental disabilities and all other types of disabilities)

3.     An Aboriginal person is a North American Indian or a member of a First Nation, a Métis, or Inuit. North American Indians or members of a First Nation include status, treaty or registered Indians, as well as non-status and non-registered Indians.

• North American Indian/First Nation
• Métis
• Inuit

4.     A member of a visible minority group in Canada is someone (other than an Aboriginal person as defined in 3 above) who is non-white in color/race, regardless of place of birth. Examples of visible minorities/racialized groups include the following:

•       Black
•       Chinese
•       Filipino
•      Japanese
•      Korean
•      South Asian/East Indian (including Indian from India; Bangladeshi; Pakistani)
•      East Indian (from Guyana, Trinidad, East Africa, etc.)
•      Non-white West Asian, North African or Arab (including Egyptian; Libyan; Lebanese; Iranian, etc.)
•      Non-white Latin American (including indigenous persons from Central and South America, etc.)
•      Person of Mixed Origin  (with one parent in one of the visible minority groups listed above)
•      Other Visible Minority Group

6. How do you assess employment equity?

There are a number of ways to measure equity in the workplace. These include:

• Representation Rates-This is the basic measure of equity. Representation is measured in terms of percentage representation of all designated groups, organization wide and by department
• Occupational Distribution-Occupational segregation can often be an indication of inequity in the workplace. Designated group members have been traditionally under-represented in certain fields/occupational areas
• Authority and Decision-Making-This measure relates to the fact that designated group members are frequently less represented in positions of authority such as supervisory, management and executive positions
• Job Security and Tenure-This measure addresses an employee's progress in obtaining and retaining permanent employment
• Employment Conditions-This relates to the measures put in place to support increases in representation and occupational movement of designated group members
• Pay and Benefits-Establishment of equitable benefit and pay provisions for members of designated groups is a goal of employment equity.

7. What is the role of the Equity Office?

The Equity Office is mandated to review and recommend revision to existing policies or new policies in relation to both educational and employment equity, and to monitor the University's effectiveness in the administration and implementation of these policies. The Advisor shall give strong voice at the highest levels regarding Queen's University's commitment to the achievement of equity.