Is this discrimination? (preference for AHRI members)

[Moz]

I have seen a number of HR (and OH&S) job ads recently that say this at the end;

"Membership of the Australian Human Resources Institute highly desirable"

This clearly implies that preference will be given to candidates who are AHRI members.

However, unlike something like the CPA, which requires rigorous standards and examinations to become a member, AHRI membership is meaningless, pretty much anyone can become an AHRI member so long as they can afford to pay $330 per year.

So how can employers or recruiters legally give preference to AHRI members?

[Mark D]

Strictly on legal grounds, I don't believe that discrimination for not being a member of a professional body falls under any of the Federal or State grounds of unlawful discrimination. AHRI is neither an employee or an employer-based membership association, so I think any discrimination claim would fail.

But, is it discrimination by a non-legislative definition? Probably yes. Would you want to work for an employer who thinks that AHRI means something? Not me.

[Moz]

Originally Posted by Mark D

Strictly on legal grounds, I don't believe that discrimination for not being a member of a professional body falls under any of the Federal or State grounds of unlawful discrimination.

I'm not an expert on these laws by any means, but I thought virtually all discrimination was illegal.

I don't see any difference between giving preference to AHRI members or giving preference to members of an AFL club. Neither has any relevance to whether I can do the job.

Originally Posted by Mark D

AHRI is neither an employee or an employer-based membership association, so I think any discrimination claim would fail.

I don't fully understand what you mean by this. I'm not suggesting that AHRI may be guilty of discrimination, I'm questioning whether employers who give preference to AHRI members when hiring may be guilty of discrimination.

However, I have no doubt that they are doing it at the behest of AHRI, because all the job ads I have seen that included the line about AHRI membership being desirable were on are AHRI's job board.

I've been watching this over several weeks now and some of the jobs on the AHRI site that included that line were also listed on Jobs in HR and Seek, but the same jobs advertised on the latter two sites did not include the line about AHRI membership.

Personally I think this is deceptive. There are plenty of HR people who are unemployed and struggling to find work, and they could be given the impression from reading the ads on the AHRI site that they are at a disadvantage if they are not an AHRI member. So they spend $330 becoming a member only to find it makes no difference at all.

[Moz]

Originally Posted by Mark D

Strictly on legal grounds, I don't believe that discrimination for not being a member of a professional body falls under any of the Federal or State grounds of unlawful discrimination.

You're spot on Mark, I just spoke to the VEOHRC and they said it's only unlawful if it discriminates against a protected group, meaning on grounds such as age, sex, race, religion, disability and physical features.

So you could actually say "membership of Collingwood Football Club would be highly desireable" and that would not be illegal.

They did however suggest a call to the advertiser asking them to explain why membership of AHRI was desirable.

[Mark D]

Originally Posted by Moz

but I thought virtually all discrimination was illegal.

I don't see any difference between giving preference to AHRI members or giving preference to members of an AFL club. Neither has any relevance to whether I can do the job.

The various Federal and State legislation that covers discrimination in Australia is VERY specific as to what constitutes discrimination. The legislation only covers certain grounds for discrimination - eg. race, sexual preference, age, disability, membership of a trade union, affiliation with a political organisation etc etc etc.

I don't fully understand what you mean by this. I'm not suggesting that AHRI may be guilty of discrimination, I'm questioning whether employers who give preference to AHRI members when hiring may be guilty of discrimination.

I'm saying that since AHRI is not either an employee association or an employer association (ie. two of the prohibited discrimination grounds in Australia), requiring job applicants to be a member or otherwise of AHRI does not give rise to a discrimination action under the Australian legislation.

I'm not sticking up for AHRI or the job advertiser, as I think AHRI membership is essentially worthless (my opinion, after having been a member for almost 20 years), but I'm saying that the advertiser is not breaking any discrimination laws (Federal or State) in Australia by specifying AHRI membership as a criteria. That's my understanding of the anti-discrimination legislation.

Here's something I found just now on Google that provides a good summary of the legislation, and what is covered in each jurisdiction -

Commission Website: Information for Employers