Scheduling your work shifts

You work at the community centre in facilities. There are weekday shifts as well as weekend shifts for special events. Most facilities workers prefer the weekday shifts, so your boss has made a policy that lets the staff who have worked at the community centre the longest pick their shifts first. You are a new hire, so you are one of the last to pick shifts and most weeks you need to work all the weekend shifts. In your religion, Friday after sundown to Saturday after sundown is a day of rest and you can’t work during this time. You asked your boss for an exception so you could book shifts at other times of the week, but he said he couldn’t because it wouldn’t be fair to other staff. You are stuck working fewer shifts or finding another job.

• Are you experiencing discrimination under the Code?

  Yes, you are experiencing discrimination under the Code. You are experiencing harm at work. You are forced to choose whether to leave your job or violate your religious beliefs. This harm is connected to a part of your identity protected by the Code – your religious requirement to observe a day of rest. The policy your boss uses to create the schedule is applied equally to all staff but it has a specific negative and unequal harmful impact on you based on your religion. Your boss did not consider how he could accommodate you but instead dismissed your request automatically.

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