Disability care center asks 'dark-skinned' people to not apply for job, apologizes after being called racist
In the current racially charged environment of the world, there is no excuse for "human error" that discriminates candidates applying for a job based on their skin color. And that is exactly what a care home job application ended up doing.
The now-deleted job posting by Absolute Care and Health, a disability care provider located in Melbourne, Australia, on the job-search platform Indeed.com specifically asked people of color not to apply, and which created a huge uproar against the company which advertised their job requirement. The job vacancy was for the role of "in-home support and care workers," with a tall order of qualifications for the ideal applicant.
Although the posting started off like any other normal job vacancy ad - explaining the ideal candidate should be someone "reliable, very confident and trustworthy" with "2+ years of experience working in the disability sector working with clients with autism," it soon took a racist turn by making specific demands regarding the color of the applicant's skin. "We request no dark-skinned (Indian or African) applicants apply for this role," the post went on to state.
It did add in brackets at the end that it was "as per client request", which typically meant that it was not the choice of Absolute Care and Health to include that specification in the posting, but instead, was the demand of person for whom the chosen candidate would be working. Nevertheless, the fact that the company agreed to include the discriminatory demand on behalf of their client and requested people not to apply for the job purely because of the color of their skin was a clear example of racism, as was pointed out by experts.
Dvir Abramovich, an Israeli-Australian academic who specializes in Holocaust studies and who is the chair of the Anti-Defamation Commission, described the posting as "stomach-churning." "This ad crossed so many lines that I stopped counting and turned back the clock on race relations," he told 7 News.
After facing backlash from people, Absolute Care and Health removed the advert from the job search website, and issued an apology on Friday, June 26 on Facebook, saying that it was a "human error," adding that it had started an investigation into the posting.
"On 22nd June, we published a job advertisement which contained information that was discriminatory and offensive. It happened as a result of an extreme failure in our internal processes and we are so very deeply sorry for the offense and distress that our error has caused," it said in a statement. "As soon as we discovered that the advertisement had been posted, we quickly removed it; published an apology on our website; apologized personally to those who had viewed the advert and those who contacted us with their concerns; and, started an investigation as to how it happened. A wholesale review is currently underway so we can understand and ensure that this never, ever, happens again."
It added: "We absolutely agree that the language used in the job advertisement is completely unacceptable. In no way does it reflect our core values as an organization or commitment to equal opportunity within our company and our community... While we cannot undo the distress we have caused to so many, we certainly wish to be an active contributor to a healthier, happier and inclusive future where racism, ageism, ableism, discrimination and vilification have no place."
Abramovich said that while he was glad the "deeply hurtful and abhorrent ad" had been removed, he added, "One has to wonder how the phrasing and intent did not raise a single red flag within the organization before it was published."