1. (15 MARKS): Teresa is a manager at one restaurant in a high-end coffee shop chain. She tried to get her cousin, Brendan, a job there as a barista but the employer told her it has a policy of not hiring family members of existing employees. She then recommended her friend Luis for the job but, when he came in for the interview, the employer told him that, due to his physical disability, he wouldn't be able to do the job and did not even interview him. Teresa was then further enraged when the employer ending up hiring someone who it turns was hired under some special program to help disadvantaged groups (which excluded her cousin, Brendan). When she complained to the employer that these actions are discriminatory and violated human rights, the employer replied all its decisions are legal. Are these actions of the employer lawful in your opinion? Explain your answer with reference to statute and case law.

2. (10 MARKS)

In 3 or 4 well-written paragraphs (not point form), explain how one of these three Ontario pieces of legislation: the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Employment Standards Act, OR the Human Rights Code (as it pertains to employment), attempts to balance competing interests of workers, employers and society in employment law to achieve fairness, equity, justice and other goals.