Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER June 15, 2015 18 INSIGHT WANTED: EXECUTIONERS RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — e Saudi Arabian government is ad- vertising eight job positions that will probably see a limited num- ber of applicants. e Ministry of Civil Service is looking for people to handle public beheadings and amputations of the hands of con- victed thieves, according to the New York Times. e jobs require no specifi c skills or education for "carrying out the death sentence according to Islamic Shariah af- ter it is ordered by a legal ruling." However, it could be a challenge fi lling the roles given the scarcity of qualifi ed swordsmen, the grisly task and the rising number of ex- ecutions — 85 people have been executed so far this year, compared to 88 all of last year, according to Human Rights Watch. e coun- try punishes drug dealing, arms smuggling, murder and other vio- lent crimes with death. HOPPING MAD COPENHAGEN — A Danish radio station faced considerable backlash recently when it killed a baby rabbit live on-air — by hitting it with a bicycle pump. e rabbit was killed "according to careful instructions by a professional ani- mal caretaker from a Danish zoo," said host Asger Juhl, who later took the rabbit home, skinned it and cooked it. e hosts claimed the act was meant to show the hy- pocrisy of animal lovers, according to Reuters. During the broadcast, the station talked about the live- stock industry in Denmark, saying Danes' concern for animal welfare did not extend to the way animals are killed for their dinner: " ese animals have often endured hor- rifi c suff ering on their way to our dinner tables. ese animals are killed according to the same con- trolled conditions as our studio rabbit, and without it invoking any strong reactions." NICE GUYS FINISH LAST NEW YORK — ere's nice and then there's too nice. at's what one doorman found out recently when he was fi red, according to the New York Post. Ralph Body — who helped out tenants by doing everything from check- ing on pets, cleaning litter boxes and watering plants — was let go from his job at a luxury apartment building in New York City. " ey said, 'We know you did it for the right reasons but, unfortunately . . . you're too nice to the tenants,'" he said. " ey said, 'You do things for them which you shouldn't be doing. And unfortunately, in this case, nice guys fi nish last.'" Tenants in the building started a petition to have the doorman reinstated, with one tenant saying: "(Management) wants impartial professionalism… I don't want to live in an environ- ment like that — where there are robots at the front desk." But management defended its posi- tion: "Ralph did not follow (the) policies and procedures and after being spoken to several times, it was their decision to reassign him to another building." DON'T COUNT YOUR CHICKENS… MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY — Nine medical students at the Hos- pital de Clinicas in Montevideo, Uruguay, were suspended recently after partying with a corpse while on-call, according to the Mirror. One of the interns moved the dead man's body from a corridor and they then put a drink in his hands as they celebrated during one of their last shifts before becoming fully qualifi ed doctors. But eight of the nine students were suspended for a month so they won't qualify to be full-fl edged doctors until next year at the earliest, instead of July. e student who moved the body was suspended indefi nitely while two superiors are also be- ing investigated for allowing the students to drink alcohol while on-call. "When there's a mistake in medicine, there's never a single person responsible," said health director Jorge Quian. "These youngsters committed a bad error but there are other people at blame here, the superiors who were sup- posed to be in charge of them and hospital bosses." W EIRD ORKPLACE THE Vol. 28 No. 11 – June 15, 2015 PUBLISHED BY Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ©Copyright 2015 by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. All rights reserved. CANADIAN HR REPORTER is published 21 times a year. 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Address changes and returns: Send changes and undeliverable Canadian addresses to: SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Canadian HR Reporter One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Rd. Toronto, ON M1T 3V4 ❑ From time to time, we make our subscriber list available to companies and organizations whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you do not want your name to be made available, please check here and return with your mailing label. CUSTOMER SERVICE Call: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5082 (Toronto) (877) 750-9041 (outside Toronto) Email: carswell.customerrelations@ thomsonreuters.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com CHRR reserves the right to edit for length and clarity. Todd Humber Editor's Notes Mental health issues not a crime E mployers have a lot of valuable information to weigh when evaluating candidates. After all, the cost of a bad hire is enormous and the benefi t of fi nding the perfect fi t is equally large. at's why it's so tempting to cast the widest net possible during background checks, something many organizations do during the hiring process. Checking ref- erences, verifying education cre- dentials and social media research are boilerplate for many organiza- tions. (Even credit checks have gained traction, particularly if the person is going to be dealing with money.) Any type of background check comes with issues and risks. For example, a Facebook search could reveal all sorts of potentially dis- criminatory information such as race, family status, religion and disability. Criminal checks can also reveal more information than necessary, such as whether or not an indi- vidual has had a history of mental health issues. at's because many background checks provide not only information about the can- didate's criminal history — if any — but also non-criminal mental health encounters with police. at includes suicide attempts or other psychological issues where someone called 911 for help. In an era where we're trum- peting being more open about mental health, and removing the stigma attached to seeking help, it is indefensible for police to be handing that information over to employers. e "Not Myself Today" cam- paign is a perfect example of the movement to end the stigma — we've written about the program in the past and my employer par- ticipates. A core part of the pro- gram is buttons and stickers that reveal how you're feeling — such as grumpy, stressed or agitated. So it sends a very weird message when we say, on the one hand, that it's OK to admit you're feeling that way, but then, on the other hand, to shun potential employees be- cause they had a mental health incident that involved police in- teraction — one that led to abso- lutely no criminal charges. But things are changing. Many police forces across the country have stopped releasing that infor- mation, a move the Toronto Police Service recently agreed to do. It's a change we applaud. Em- ployers need the best informa- tion they can get to make a hir- ing decision, and it doesn't need to be clouded with a red fl ag that doesn't really mean anything. Last year, the Ontario Associa- tion of Police Chiefs recognized this in putting out new guide- lines for police reference checks. It stated the disclosure of "police contact and non-conviction re- cords" was serving as a barrier to employment, among other things. at's because employers "who are receiving and making deci- sions based on non-conviction entries frequently do not under- stand what a police contact or non-conviction record is, and have little or no guidance as to how this information should fac- tor into their decision-making process. " e result is that many orga- nizations adopt the most risk- averse position, automatically disqualifying a wide range of individuals solely on the basis of these records." In an era with so much liabil- ity placed at the employer's door, who can blame a hiring manager for choosing a candidate with a completely clean check over one who attempted suicide? at's why the decision needs to be taken out of their hands. Police shouldn't pass over this information and, if they do, HR should redact it before the hiring manager has a chance to see it. LOOKING FOR A F*****G JOB? CLARKSTON, SCOTLAND — An employer in Scot- land made waves recently when he posted an online ad for a cook with the title: "Looking for someone fast, pro- gressive and not a total **** for a new restaurant." Justin Valmassoi went on to say he needed someone "to bang out a ton of semi-fancy food in a kitchen the size of a closet, and you also have to put up with my wife because I do and she's the real boss." e ad told people not to bother if they weren't the right candidate: "Seriously. Last time I was hiring for a place I got over 400 CVs. You know how long it takes to read 400 CVs? Too f*cking long." As for compensation? " e money is sh*t. It's £7/hour and a cut of the tips… Don't come to an interview and then say it sounds great but you've got your kid's school clothes to buy or whatever. I don't care. ere's no money." Valmassoi also said the person could be "super outgoing or actually mute" and should only send a real cover letter: "If you have one that says you're a 'hard-working team player that can also function well alone' and that you 'value customer service and punctuality,' I will stab myself in the face with a pencil and nobody will get a job." "It's at least possible Shawn Simoes' employment agreement prevents him from being fired without cause due to his behaviour. If this is the only discipline on his record, an arbitrator may not find Hydro One has met its burden of proving termination is the appropriate penalty for this misconduct. The employer may even decide a private settlement with the grievor is in order, to protect its reputation. I feel like Simoes' story has a few chapters left." — Anonymous, commenting on Stuart Rudner's blog "What's the deal with off-duty conduct?" Join the conversation. Comment on any blog on www.hrreporter.com. READER COMMENTS Credit: alexpro9500/Shutterstock the real boss." e ad told people not to bother if they weren't the right candidate: "Seriously. Last time I was hiring for a place I got over 400 CVs. You know how long it takes to read 400 CVs? Too f*cking long." As for compensation? " e money is sh*t. It's £7/hour and

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