Had the crappiest couple weeks at work, including a sucky customer extreme, a major screw up that was completely my fault, and this job interview, which made me furious. Happened over a week ago and I haven't heard back from him yet, so maybe this is over but.....
We are hiring tradespeople, and our ad, in part says: Lifting up to 60lbs. Working at heights, scaffolding, ladders, man lifts etc. Working in confined spaces, crawlspaces, attics, excavations. No experience necessary, will train.
In addition it outlines some of the duties expected to complete, obviously, from the description the entire job is fairly physically demanding.
Upstairs in our office is an empty office for salesmen to share and a small conference room, which we use for occasional meetings and I took over for the recent interviews. On the main floor is the owners, office managers and warehouse/dispatch offices and a large reception area.
From the conference room I texted the office manager and asked her to send up the next applicant. A few minutes later she texts me back: SOS come down. I go downstairs and she introduces me to the next applicant, who is seated in reception. I shake his hand and ask him to go upstairs for our interview. He declines and tells me he can't bend his knee far enough to climb the stairs. I ask oh, did you hurt your leg
No
It's a congenital defect with both legs. He can't climb a ladder, stairs, crawl, work on his knees etc. WTF! There is no part of our job he can, or will ever be able to do. Most of the houses we work in don't even have stairs at the entry yet, we often have to heave ourselves into an opening 4' high any way we can manage. So I explain to him that I don't think he will work out for this position, that perhaps construction is the not the field he is meant to be in, and he FLIPS. It is (so he tells me) against the law to discriminate against people with disabilities, I am unable to not hire him because he is unable to do any part of this job or he will sue our company, and give us bad publicity and blah blah blah. Our ad said we would train, and it is our responsibility to figure out a way he can do this job, and train him in it, and btw it is illegal to have 2nd floor offices and no elevator.
I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to not have an elevator, our offices aren't really public, customers rarely come and aren't expected to, the offices and warehouse are really for employees only. I'm also pretty sure it is not illegal to 'discriminate' against people who are unable to do the job. In a building in progress there are lots of things unavailable that most people would consider mandatory at a job, like smoke alarms, heat, AC, stairs to get to the 2nd floor etc, washrooms, etc
I mean I am a little colour blind, and therefore can never be a large ship captain. Is that also discrimination? At what point does 'unable to complete duties properly and safely' take over for 'discrimination'; or does it ever?
I hope never to hear from him again, I am supposed to do most of the HR work, and rely on Google mostly to make sure we are not breaking any employment standards. If we have to hire a lawyer to deal with this, I am on the shit list for a long time at work.
We are hiring tradespeople, and our ad, in part says: Lifting up to 60lbs. Working at heights, scaffolding, ladders, man lifts etc. Working in confined spaces, crawlspaces, attics, excavations. No experience necessary, will train.
In addition it outlines some of the duties expected to complete, obviously, from the description the entire job is fairly physically demanding.
Upstairs in our office is an empty office for salesmen to share and a small conference room, which we use for occasional meetings and I took over for the recent interviews. On the main floor is the owners, office managers and warehouse/dispatch offices and a large reception area.
From the conference room I texted the office manager and asked her to send up the next applicant. A few minutes later she texts me back: SOS come down. I go downstairs and she introduces me to the next applicant, who is seated in reception. I shake his hand and ask him to go upstairs for our interview. He declines and tells me he can't bend his knee far enough to climb the stairs. I ask oh, did you hurt your leg
No
It's a congenital defect with both legs. He can't climb a ladder, stairs, crawl, work on his knees etc. WTF! There is no part of our job he can, or will ever be able to do. Most of the houses we work in don't even have stairs at the entry yet, we often have to heave ourselves into an opening 4' high any way we can manage. So I explain to him that I don't think he will work out for this position, that perhaps construction is the not the field he is meant to be in, and he FLIPS. It is (so he tells me) against the law to discriminate against people with disabilities, I am unable to not hire him because he is unable to do any part of this job or he will sue our company, and give us bad publicity and blah blah blah. Our ad said we would train, and it is our responsibility to figure out a way he can do this job, and train him in it, and btw it is illegal to have 2nd floor offices and no elevator.
I'm pretty sure it's not illegal to not have an elevator, our offices aren't really public, customers rarely come and aren't expected to, the offices and warehouse are really for employees only. I'm also pretty sure it is not illegal to 'discriminate' against people who are unable to do the job. In a building in progress there are lots of things unavailable that most people would consider mandatory at a job, like smoke alarms, heat, AC, stairs to get to the 2nd floor etc, washrooms, etc
I mean I am a little colour blind, and therefore can never be a large ship captain. Is that also discrimination? At what point does 'unable to complete duties properly and safely' take over for 'discrimination'; or does it ever?
I hope never to hear from him again, I am supposed to do most of the HR work, and rely on Google mostly to make sure we are not breaking any employment standards. If we have to hire a lawyer to deal with this, I am on the shit list for a long time at work.
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