This course will expose students to the law and theory of human rights in employment. We will begin by inquiring how and why the workplace is an important target of human rights legislation. To that end, we will start by engaging with arguments about the moral significance of work, the nature of social equality, and the history of labour markets in fostering social inequalities. With this philosophical and social background in mind, for the remainder of the course students will learn, apply, and critically assess human rights law in the workplace. Students will learn the main forms of unlawful workplace discrimination, focusing primarily on provincial human rights codes and related legal doctrine. We will then take a closer look at the law and theory of particular prohibited grounds of discrimination, such as gender and race, by reading and discussing a combination of human rights cases, personal narratives, and philosophical writing on race, gender, intersectionality, and colonialism. Students should come away from the course with an informed view of the role and limits of human rights law in preventing and remedying workplace inequalities.
This course will expose students to the law and theory of human rights in employment. We will begin by inquiring how and why the workplace is an important target of human rights legislation. To that end, we will start by engaging with arguments about the moral significance of work, the nature of social equality, and the history of labour markets in fostering social inequalities. With this philosophical and social background in mind, for the remainder of the course students will learn, apply, and critically assess human rights law in the workplace. Students will learn the main forms of unlawful workplace discrimination, focusing primarily on provincial human rights codes and related legal doctrine. We will then take a closer look at the law and theory of particular prohibited grounds of discrimination, such as gender and race, by reading and discussing a combination of human rights cases, personal narratives, and philosophical writing on race, gender, intersectionality, and colonialism. Students should come away from the course with an informed view of the role and limits of human rights law in preventing and remedying workplace inequalities.
