Your Rights—What is Protected?
There are specific protections in Nova Scotia's Human Rights act that mean it's against the law to be treated unfairly in key, protected areas under the province's authority.
These protected areas are:
- the workplace
- housing
- services and facilities such as service in a store or restaurant or through a provincially funded and delivered program
- purchase or sale of property
- volunteer public service
- publication, broadcast or advertisement
- membership in a professional, business or trade association, employer's or employee's organization
Discrimination is against the law in these protected areas because of protected characteristics in the Human Rights Act. In other words, you can't be treated unfairly in these key areas under the province's authority because of a characteristic such as your race, your gender, or if you have a physical disability, to name a few examples.
To help employers ensure their recruitment practices are in keeping of the Act, the Commission has produced the following pamphlet:
- For Employers: A guide for drafting job application forms and interview questions (*PDF)
- Pour les employeurs : Guide de rédaction des formulaires de demande d’emploi et des questions d’entrevue (*PDF)
*You can download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader here.