2. Learn when human rights laws might not apply

Most of the time, an employer cannot refuse to hire someone because of a personal characteristic that's protected by the law.

But there are some reasons why they can do this. For example, there are times when employers can require Canadian work experience and can hire people who belong to certain groups.

It's a good idea to get legal advice if an employer says one of these reasons applies to you.

Work experience in Canada

An employer should not ask if you have worked in Canada, unless they can show that you need that to do the job. For most jobs, it's hard for an employer to prove this.

If an employer refuses to hire you because you do not have experience working in Canada, you might be able to make a human rights claim. Read more in Steps 3 and 4.

An employer can ask if you're legally able to work in Canada.

Hiring people from specific groups

You may see job postings that say an employer is hiring people who belong to certain groups.

The law lets employers do this in some situations. An employer can have special hiring programs to help groups that are often discriminated against. And employers that work with a specific group of people might need to hire someone from that group to do some types of work.

Here are some examples:

• A company has a special hiring program to try to make their workforce more diverse. And to do this they must hire workers from different racial groups and people from the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
• A community organization that serves young people hires younger workers to do certain jobs.