News

An Aging Workforce and Hiring Practices

News

An Aging Workforce and Hiring Practices

Date: December 5, 2012

In a time where the workforce is aging, employers must ensure that their recruitment and interview processes involve objective criteria for assessing a job candidate’s qualifications, and do not discriminate against a candidate on the basis of age, either directly or indirectly. The jurisprudence of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario is clear that age differences among job candidates does not, in and of itself, constitute discrimination where a younger candidate is hired. Rather, the unsuccessful candidate must show that his or her age was a distinguishing feature in the hiring process. For a discussion of this issue, see our recent Case in Point blog post, “HRTO Considers Allegations of Age Discrimination in Employer Hiring Practices.