Class and Social Background Discrimination in the Modern Workplace
Mapping Inequality in the Digital Age
By Angelo Capuano
ISBN
978-1529222944Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529222968Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressISBN
978-1529222968Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University Press
Class and Social Background Discrimination in the Modern Workplace
This book exposes how inequalities based on class and social background arise from employment practices in the digital age. It considers instances where social media is used in recruitment to infiltrate private lives and hide job advertisements based on locality; where algorithms assess socio-economic data to filter candidates; where human interviewers are replaced by artificial intelligence with design that disadvantages users of classed language; and where already vulnerable groups become victims of digitalisation and remote work.
The author examines whether these practices create risks of discrimination based on certain protected attributes, including ‘social origin’ in international labour law and laws in Australia and South Africa, ‘social condition’ and ‘family status’ in laws within Canada, and others. The book proposes essential law reform and improvements to workplace policy.
“Evidences some of the critical changes in the way digital decisions will impose consequences on human beings. Despite many benefits, the gigantic shocks that lie ahead stretch beyond ChatGPT, to impose disadvantage on data subjects without human mediation. This timely book uses particular algorithms to illustrate specific dangers and the urgent need for law reform and social awareness.” The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, former Justice of the High Court of Australia and Chair of the OECD Expert Group on Data Flows and Data Security
"This splendid volume broadens Australian discrimination law by analysing class as an element of the ILO concept of social origin. These precepts will strengthen equality in the digital age workplace." Ron McCallum AO, University of Sydney and former member of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Angelo Capuano is Lecturer in Law at Central Queensland University. His published work on discrimination law has been used in court and tribunal decisions in Australia and South Africa, including by the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Outside academia, Angelo has years of practical experience as a government lawyer, court researcher and judge’s associate.
1. Class and Social Background Discrimination: An Introduction
2. Unravelling the Meaning of ‘Social Origin’ Discrimination in Conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and its Applications in the Digital Age
3. Mapping the Legal Landscape in Australia, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand and its Applications in the Digital Age
4. Social Media in Hiring and Firing Decisions
5. Automated Candidate Screening, Algorithms and Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment
6. Platform Work and the Post-Pandemic Shift to Remote Work
7. Making Future Workplaces Fairer and More Equitable
