EEO does not assume that everyone has the same abilities, or that everyone will reach the same level. It requires that everyone have a fair chance to use their talents and abilities rather than to be blocked by barriers irrelevant to their capacity to achieve. Affirmative Action is a systematic approach to the identification and elimination of institutional barriers that a specified group of people encounter in employment. It is possible to mount an Affirmative Action program for any designated equity, minority or disadvantaged group. James Cook University's Affirmative Action program aims to increase the range of occupations open to women, to give them access to higher status positions in all career paths, and to ensure that work undertaken is fairly valued.
All work is covered.
Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably because of an irrelevant characteristic such as their sex, race or age. Indirect discrimination occurs when a requirement which at first sight may seem fair, or appears to be the same for everyone, has an unfavourable impact on one group of people in comparison to another and the requirement is not reasonable. Selection for positions at James Cook University will be based on merit . Selection panels are expected to be aware of the dangers of defining merit too narrowly, and to avoid seeing as meritorious only the person who presents with knowledge, skills, experience and credentials similar to their own. The aim of the selection process is to establish which of the applicants will perform the duties of the position better than the other applicants and closest to the optimum level of job performance.