Canadian HR Reporter Weekly

3 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2018 November 7, 2018 conviction was. e record check agency would then send that in to the police service and the only result that would come back from the police service is confirming if the records match that or not." From a timeline perspective, the standard process with that two-stage consent could now take longer because the results have to go back to the employee first, he said. "So this new exception through the self-disclosure process can actually speed up that process because there's no requirement for records to go back to the employee first." Previous problems Police records are widely used as a tool to assess ap- plications for employment, said Paula Osmok, execu- tive director of the John Howard Society of Ontario in Toronto. "(Previously) decision-makers who utilize police records were receiving information irrelevant to the opportunity being pursued," she said. "e (new act) should remove barriers and create greater levels of fairness." rough these checks, police have disclosed information about non-criminal and non-conviction interactions, said Osmok. "ough most (people) don't realize it, simply calling 911 for help during a mental health crisis can trigger a police report. So too can being stopped and questioned about a robbery in your neighbourhood. is information is often used by employers to judge a candidate's character and as blanket screening of potential candidates." Revealing these non-criminal interactions has had devastating consequences, she said. "ere is little in the way of human rights protection for these types of records, and employers may not appreciate the differences between conviction and non- conviction records." It's possible the new system will expedite the process for HR professionals and hiring managers as they won't be inundated with unnecessary information, according to Osmok. And the new act standardizes what can be disclosed on a record check. Previously, information released could vary widely, said Dreshman. In one city, a check could include a person's convictions or guilty charges, while in another, it could include mental health apprehensions. "We were seeing and hearing from many people who'd been really discriminated against on the basis of information that was completely irrelevant," she said. Implications for employers e changes alleviate much of the burden for employers because they no longer have to worry about whether the information they receive is relevant, said Alexandra Hob- son, an associate at Sultan Lawyers in Toronto. "It will be a bit more standardized in terms of what information they're given... which is, of course, one of the big problems for employers because they have to be careful under the Ontario Human Rights Code if they receive information that someone has been connected by has received a pardon. at cannot be a source of discrimination under human rights law, it's specifically one of the enumerated grounds for which discrimination is prohibited." As to deciding which check to request, that should be logically assessed on a case-by-case basis, she said. "You want to make sure there's a justification for which level you're asking for," said Hobson. "Pointing to a solid policy that shows there's a logical connection between the role or industry and the kind of criminal record check that is requested is really something that's going to save employers a lot of headaches later on in terms of trying to retroactively explain away arbitrary behaviour or potential invasions of privacy by the people conducting these interviews and screening potential employees." Employers should make sure they're not asking for more than they need, said Foster. "It's important not to overshoot in those cases. ey should consider the nature of the role, what type of information would be relevant to them assessing the candidate's ability to perform the job. And, in most cases, a criminal records check or criminal records and judicial matters (check) would be more than sufficient." It's expected similar restrictions will make their way to other parts of Canada, he said. "It's telling that it received all-party support here, so it's not a partisan issue." But the new rules should serve as a note of caution that a police records check is not a very good screener when it comes to figuring who is and who isn't going to be a reliable employee, said Dreshman. "e social science evidence is really clear there's no reliable connection between a person's criminal record and their likelihood to commit a crime while on the job or their job performance... It's a tool, but I do think it's a tool that's relied on disproportionately to what it's actually useful for." Pointing to a solid policy is going to save employers a lot of headaches later on." Credit: Andres Garcia Martin (Shutterstock) On Nov. 1, the Police Record Checks Reform Act came into force at Queen's Park in Toronto. The new legislation should mean employers no longer have to worry about whether the information they receive is relevant, says Alexandra Hobson of Sultan Lawyers in Toronto.

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