Under most circumstances, I believe that Organizations in Ontario that have been classified as an ‘essential service’ should be inspected by theOntario Ministry of Labour to ensure safe working conditions during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak. As many are aware the World Health Organization(WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a global pandemic.¹ As a result of this many countries, including Canada, have closed borders and some provinces, including Ontario, have insisted on the closing of all businesses except for those declared as essential services.² The article chosen discusses the process regarding what to do if an employee feels as if their workplace is unsafe. However, in times like these, we cannot rely only on what employees see. We must ensure that all businesses that have remained open are following protocol in order to prevent this fast spreading virus.

During this difficult time, many employees fear that they could become infected with the coronavirus.³ As a result of this, many employees wish not to attend work even if their job has been considered an essential service.⁴ Therefore this issue greatly impacts any businesses or organizations that have been considered an essential service during this pandemic. The employees of these establishments are at risk of contracting the virus.⁵ According to the Ontario Human Rights Code(OHRC) if an employee feels unsafe they are to first inform their employer and provide reasoning and suggestions on why the workplace is unsafe and how he or she could make it safe. This would be deemed by the OHRC – section 42 as ‘refusing unsafe work.’⁶ If the employer does not act on your requests and you still deem the workplace to be unsafe then it is your duty to report this to the Ontario Ministry of Labour who will send a representative to do an inspection.⁶ This can be a long and tedious process and in our current situation, it takes less than a minute to spread this deadly virus. In addition to this, in March of 2020, the number of unsafe work conditions reported to the Ministry of Labour has more than doubled.⁷

I believe an alternate process should be used during this time to acknowledge that this virus is spreading more rapidly than our current measures can handle. In order to reduce this feeling of fear and unease of thousands of Ontario employees, I believe the Ministry of Labour should take action in reviewing all open establishments. Through this process, it would be ensured that all establishments are following the strict guidelines that have been laid out including but not limited to social distancing, cleanliness and occupancy rules in the workplace.⁸ This will reduce the stress that many employees across Ontario are experiencing with regards to the coronavirus. It will also prevent employees from having to awkwardly confront their employers about safety and eliminate the multistep and lengthy process of having your workplace inspected by the Ministry of Labour. Ultimately, I hope that the Ontario Ministry of Labour takes this into consideration in order to protect the lives of many fearful essential workers in Ontario.

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Article: https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/03/24/can-i-refuse-to-work-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-labour-relations-expert-weighs-in.html

¹ Gumbrecht & Howard. (2020). WHO declares novel coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. Retrieved from: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/health/coronavirus-pandemic-world-health-organization/index.html).

² Willms & Montgomery. (2020). Coronavirus Update: Ontario and Quebec order non-essential businesses closed, Liberals to table emergency spending bill, Trump considers reopening U.S. economy. Retrieved from: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-coronavirus-update-ontario-and-quebec-order-non-essential-businesses/

³ Silcoff & Cardoso. (2020). Ottawa shuts down Service Canada centres after employees refuse to work. Retrieved from:  https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-ottawa-considers-shutting-down-service-canada-centres-as-employees/

⁴ Mojtehedzadeh. (2020). Fear of exposure to the coronavirus at work on the rise. Retrieved from: https://www.toronto.com/news-story/9911430-fear-of-exposure-to-the-coronavirus-at-work-on-the-rise/

⁵ Financial Post. (2020). COVID-19 Infections Among Ontario Health Care Workers Spike. Retrieved from: https://business.financialpost.com/pmn/press-releases-pmn/business-wire-news-releases-pmn/covid-19-infections-among-ontario-health-care-workers-spike

⁶ Human Rights Code, RSO 1990, Section 43

⁷ Leavitt. (2020). Do I have to work during the coronavirus outbreak? A labour relations expert weighs in. Retrieved from:  https://www.thestar.com/business/2020/03/24/can-i-refuse-to-work-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-labour-relations-expert-weighs-in.html

⁸ Government of Canada. (2020). Physical distancing (Fact sheet). Retrieved from: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/publications/diseases-conditions/social-distancing.html

The Truth about Artificial Intelligence in the Hiring Process 

I believe that companies and organizations should not integrate technology or artificial intelligence (AI) into their hiring process in order to prevent discrimination. Although technology and AI do have benefits, I believe the shortcomings do not outweigh these benefits and are simply too risky for a business to take. Throughout the New York Times article, Dr. Ifeoma Ajunwa highlighted many negative connotations associated with AI and how it would have a detrimental effect on employment relations and the hiring process. 

One of the largest noted shortcoming of implementing AI technology into the hiring process is the lack of transparency that exists with the use of AI.^[i] We currently do not know how AI is making its decisions as we, as outsiders, have no way to truly know what the machine has been instructed to do.^[i] This doesn’t only leave room for organizations to discriminate against individuals, but it permits them to do it without public knowledge. Currently an organization can claim that certain criteria are part of cultural fit, even though these criteria may be highly discriminatory towards particular individuals.^[i] In addition to this, it was found that only certain individuals were receiving ads on sites such as Facebook to ensure that people similar to the an organizations current employees would be ‘recruited’ by the organization.^[i]

AI is usually being implemented to mitigate the issue of human error with regards to discrimination; however, as noted by the articles author, in a published paper, AI receives its data from humans making the process somewhat redundant and just as discriminatory as humans.^[iii] This counter-productivity has occurred on several occasions when it was proven that AI was in fact discriminating against specific individuals that had something in common.^[iv] As a result of this in 2017/2018 the Ontario Human Right Tribunal received close to 5000 accusation applications, 40% of which were found to be discriminatory.^[v]

I do not think that AI is advanced to the degree that will allow it to be integrated into the hiring process. AI has not been developed to point that it can be interchangeably used with humans.^[ii] As a result of this, the technology or AI that is used is not capable of detecting company-candidate fit to the same degree that humans are able to detect. The use of technology and AI could also be rendered useless if the data is from humans as it could be discriminatory towards a particular group of individuals.^[iii] It is critical that the relationship between the employer and potential candidates remains civil, respectful and professional. To the best of its abilities, an organization should not be discriminating against its potential candidates through AI technology as it could result in a case being filed against their organization. That is not to say that in years to come this technology will become more advanced permitting it to be an aspect of the hiring process.

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^[i]Ajunwa, I. (2019, October 8). Beware of Automated Hiring. Retrieved February 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/08/opinion/ai-hiring-discrimination.html

^[ii]Balinggan, G. (2019, January 1). Difference Between. Retrieved February 2020, from http://www.differencebetween.net/science/difference-between-artificial-intelligence-and-human-intelligence/

^[iii]Ajunwa, I. (2018, December 3) The Paradox of Automation as Anti-Bias Intervention. Retreived February 2020, from DOI:10.1093/jlb/lsz003.

^[iv]Holmes, A. (2019, October 8). AI could be the key to ending discrimination in hiring, but experts warn it can be just as biased as humans. Retrieved February 2020, from https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-hiring-tools-biased-as-humans-experts-warn-2019-10

^[v]Tribunals Ontario. (2018). Social Justice Tribunals annual report 2017/18. Retrieved February 2020, from  http://www.sjto.gov.on.ca/documents/sjto/2017-18%20Annual%20Report.html

Welcome! EMPR200

Hi, my name is Drew Barden and I am a 2nd year Commerce student here at Queen’s. I decided to take Work and Employment Relations in Canada as I believe the knowledge I acquire throughout the semester will enhance my success in the business field. I am especially interested in employment law and regualtions that exist in the field. I hope that through this course I will have the opportunity to learn more on this subject. As an individual I really enjoy travelling and hiking. In the future I would really enjoy working in the field of real estate. I am looking forward to the semester and everything we will be learning!