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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          March 5, 2002

OTTAWA - Fitness testing for Department of National Defence (DND) civilian firefighters violates the Canadian Human Rights Act (CHRA) on the basis of gender and age, according to their union, the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) which has just filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

"National Defence has directed that firefighters at DND facilities who take the fitness test and don’t pass it within a specified period of time will face serious consequences, including demotion and termination of employment," says PSAC National Executive Vice-President John Gordon. "However, there is no evidence that compliance with this arbitrary standard is required for the safe and efficient performance of firefighter duties."

The fitness test is part of DND’s Firefighter Physical Fitness Maintenance Program. It was developed in 1993-1994 by the Queen’s University Ergonomic Research Group. Firefighters are required to complete a circuit of tasks within eight minutes. The time limit was determined by the Research Group on the basis of tests of a group of 202 male and 24 female firefighters.

"The test fails to incorporate the inclusive accommodations required by law to be built into all workplace standards, policies and practices," declares Gordon. "It discriminates against female firefighters because women’s aerobic capacity is less than that of men. Although the test was administered on female firefighters by the Queen’s researchers and the adverse effect of the eight-minute performance objective as a function of gender was noted, the time limit for completion of the circuit was not adapted to account for the performance of women. Aerobic capacity also declines with advancing age. Again, no adaptation was made to account for this."

The sample test results in the Queen’s research study showed that the average completion time for men was seven minutes, 30 seconds while the average completion time for women was nine minutes, 57 seconds. The choice of the eight-minute standard gives the average male test subject an additional 30 seconds of leeway in order to complete the test within the required time. For the average woman, the choice of the eight-minute standard requires the average female to improve her performance by one minute and 57 seconds in order to complete the test in the required time. The study itself admitted that choosing a standard of eight minutes would have the greatest negative impact on female subjects and those within the 50-59 age category.

According to Gordon, "similar tests have already been found to be discriminatory. In 1999 the Supreme Court of Canada determined that a gender-biased test administered to provincial forest firefighters in British Columbia was not reasonably necessary to determine whether or not they could do their jobs safely and efficiently. The Court went on to say that standards must reflect and adjust to the differences which exist among the individuals and groups within society."

While the union has filed a human rights complaint, it has asked the Human Rights Commission to refer the matter to the Public Service Staff Relations Board, which would then have the authority to deal with grievances that have been filed on the same issue. This circuitous route is necessary because the federal public service is the only unionized labour jurisdiction that does not permit direct recourse to the grievance procedure for human rights matters.

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For information: John Gordon, PSAC national executive vice-president, (613) 560-4310

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