Recruitment, Training and Development Index
It is unlawful to discriminate against or treat an applicant or employee differently to others due to their disability in recruitment, employment conditions and development opportunities. If a person’s disabilities are found to prevent them from completing the inherent requirements of a job, they may be excluded from the application process. However if reasonable adjustments could be made to accommodate their working capacity, they must be treated as all other applications or employees.
It is important to ensure people with disability have access to all stages of the recruitment process.
What can I ask a person with a disability?
The question on everybody’s lips when they are not confident with an applicant or employee with a disability is often “what should or shouldn’t I say?” This uncertainty can occur during job interviews, starting in a new supervisory or management position, when expecting an employee to return to work after injury, or other occasions where a person with a disability is newly involved.
There are rules about what you can and can’t ask a person who has a disability and in what circumstances.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) prescribes harassment of a person for reason of their disability. Harassment for the purposes of the Act is:
“any actions because of or in relation to the disability of an employee or prospective employee (or the disability of an associate of that person) which are intended to humiliate, offend, intimidate or distress.”
Harassment can be unintentional. Unintentional harassment can take the form of unnecessarily intrusive personal questions about a person's disability, comments or behaving differently because of a person's disability. These are often based on wrong assumptions about the person's capabilities or need for assistance. This can be very easy to do but can as easily be avoided if you follow these simple guidelines:
An employer can ask a person about their disability if it is for a legitimate work related purpose. For example if the questions are intended for the purpose of:
- Determining a person's ability to perform the inherent requirements of the relevant job
- Determining a person's ability to comply with any other lawful job related requirements
- Determining the need for and nature of any reasonable adjustment required
- Determining entitlements and obligations of the employer, employee or potential employee or other relevant parties in relation to superannuation or insurance including workers compensation.
In summary, if you need information about a person’s disability for legitimate reasons, ask them, making sure that they know why you are asking and that you maintain confidentiality.
If you are unsure if you need to know, contact us at equityadvice@defence.gov.au or contact, the Australian Human Rights Commission or the Office of Disability for advice before proceeding.
Recruitment
Under the Disability Discrimination Act it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against a person with a disability (or that person's associates) during the recruitment process.
An applicant must be able to perform the inherent requirements of the job to be successful in gaining a position. Some flexibility throughout the recruitment process is more likely to increase your pool of applicants for the position/s. Furthermore, by making allowances for reasonable adjustments in the workplace you have a wider selection of talented people available to apply.
Advertising Vacancies
Defence encourage a diverse workforce, so must work towards removing any barriers for job advertisements that may restrict recruiting potential, or discourage talented people from applying to work in Defence.
Defence includes a diversity statement in the Information Packs that are distributed for job vacancies:
“The range and nature of work in Defence requires a workforce that reflects our diverse society. We welcome applications from Indigenous Australians, people from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds and people with disability. We are committed to providing an environment that values diversity and supports all staff to reach their full potential. If you have individual requirements that needs to be accommodated, either the interview process or the subsequent position please discuss your requirements with the Contact Officer.”
Further to this, if you are writing a job advertisement, please provide alternative ways to gain information and seek advice. This may remove barriers for some members of the community who have limited access to all forms of media. For example:
- Advertise vacancies in alternative media such as the Internet and Radio for the Print Handicapped. For more information on Radio for the Print Handicapped, ring
(03) 9889 7144; - Ensure that people with disabilities can apply for the position. For example, providing only an answering machine for requests for selection criteria may prevent a person who is deaf from applying for the job. In this case, providing an email address as well could solve this problem; and
- Make information on the position available, on request, in accessible formats such as Braille, disk or audio.
Advertising for positions for people with intellectual disabilities is exempt from the normal advertising regulations due to the nature of the position being offered. It is only required that advertising occurs within the Disability Employment Network, and not necessarily in the Gazette and Newspapers.
Interviewing
It is important to make this stage of the process as fair as possible by removing any barriers that may be preventing an equitable interview for all applicants.
- Ensure that applicants shortlisted for interview have an opportunity to indicate any additional needs they may have.
- Make arrangements to accommodate these needs. For example, you may need to book a sign language interpreter or accommodate an advocate/support person. Ensure that the interview room is accessible and, if additional material is needed, make this available in accessible formats
- Structure your interview questions to focus on the inherent requirements of the job. Talk about the ability of the applicant to carry out these requirements, not the person's disability
- Be aware that it is unlawful to ask discriminatory questions in an interview. You may ask questions which are reasonably intended to identify any alterations or adjustments which the person may require
- Talk to the applicant, not their interpreter or support person
- Provide your interviewing panel with information on non-discriminatory selection practices.
Training
For Supervisors
Supervising a person with a disability should be the same as supervising a person without a disability. However, if you have not been involved with a person with a disability before, please consider the following advice and tools.
Firstly, supervisors need to be aware of some of the common misconceptions that people have about people with disability, which might prevent them from feeling comfortable with the employment arrangement.
The Australian Employers’ Network on Disability (AEND) have produced a publication called “Managers Guide – Disability in the Workplace” which acts as a reference guide for any issues that arise related to employing and managing people with a disability. The guide contains information on:
- Benefits of employing people with disability
- Employer responsibilities
- Recruiting new team members
- Interviewing
- Tips for the first day
- OH&S
- Learning and development
- Managing employee performance and development
- Managing disability-related sick leave
- Leaving employment
- Further information about reasonable adjustments and resources
If you would like more information on the guide, or would like to order a copy, please contact us at equityadvice@defence.gov.au.
Another useful tool for supervisors and managers is the APSCs tool Ability at Work: Tapping the talent of people with disability
Fairness and Resolution are currently exploring training possibilities for supervisors of people with disability. This may be in the form of online training or face-to-face. If you would be interested in this kind of training, please let us know so we can develop it to best suit your needs.
Funding assistance for personnel
Defence is committed to removing barriers for employees with disability. This means all employees have equitable access to training and development opportunities. Work areas are expected to, in the first instance, supply funding for their employees to attend training that will contribute to their professional development, and any assistance they may require. Where this is not possible, funding may be applied for elsewhere.
- The Defence Business Training Centre (DBTC) will provide funding for assistance required for their training courses. This may include a venue change, an interpreter, or one-on-one training sessions in some cases where assistive software is used by the employee on their Defence computer. The DBTC will not provide individual OH&S items for the training course, such as office chairs. OH&S items required are the individual’s responsibility.
The DBTC requires notification of modifications required for the training session in advance of the course. Please indicate on the appropriate area of the course nomination form, or contact the Assistant Director Training Facilitation on (02) 62665361 for more information.
- The Auslan for Employment (AFE) program assists employers to provide Auslan interpreting services for Deaf employees. The AFE also provide Deaf awareness training for co-workers. More information about the AFE program can be found on the JobAccess website .
- The Defence Assistive Technology Program may also consider funding requests for training on a case-by-case basis.
Career Development
As a supervisor, it is your responsibility to ensure that any employees with a disability receive the same career opportunities or support as all other team members. All Defence employees ought to be encouraged to develop their full potential in a supportive environment that recognises and values diversity. This may include development in a wide range of skills through experience, training opportunities and promotion opportunities.
Ensure that training and development facilities are accessible to a staff member with a disability. Also, that any additional needs they may have during training are catered for. This may mean providing additional support at training courses, such as an interpreter, allowing more time for travel or giving employees flexibility in the pace in which they move through a course to provide more breaks.
For more information on funding support available, please see the support page.
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