Recruitment Issues
There is no general equal opportunities law which states that businesses must follow fair procedures when taking on new employees. However, there is legal protection for job applicants who suffer discrimination based on their sex, race, disability, sexuality or religion/belief. For example, if an employee is rejected for employment because they are heavily pregnant or because they suffer from multiple sclerosis or because of their ethnic origin, then there will be a claim for discrimination at the Employment Tribunal.
The best defence to a discrimination claim is for the employer to show that the strongest candidate was appointed to the position and, for this reason, it is very helpful for the employer to have adopted a basically fair recruitment process. This kind of process will include the following elements: -
(a) The position will have been advertised so as to ensure that all potential applicants have the opportunity to apply.
(b) The employer will have drafted a job description setting out what the job involves as well as a person specification. The person specification will set out the qualifications, skills and experiences that will be required by the candidate.
(c) The candidates will be assessed against the person specification and the interviews will be conducted on a fairly standard basis so that each candidate is given an equal opportunity to compete for the position.
(d) The candidates will be marked or assessed in some way against the person specification and the candidate with the best assessment/score will be appointed to the position.
Provided that the above kind of recruitment procedure has been adopted, it will be fairly straightforward for an employer to show that the best candidate was appointed and thereby defeat any potential discrimination claims. If the employer has adopted a more informal approach and has no documented way of demonstrating that the best candidate was appointed, it is more likely that the Employment Tribunal will be prepared to draw an inference of discrimination.
It is important for employers to be aware that job applicants who are refused employment on potential discriminatory grounds can serve a questionnaire. This questionnaire will require the employer to justify their selection procedure and, amongst other things, require that the employer provide some documentary evidence that the chosen candidate was reasonably assessed higher against the person specification as compared to the unsuccessful candidate. It is certainly difficult to respond to questionnaires unless there is some documented fair recruitment process.
The consequences of losing a discrimination claim based on discriminatory recruitment processes are fairly serious in that the unsuccessful job applicant can be awarded both compensation for injury to feelings and compensation for any future loss of earnings arising out of the rejection for the job. In practice, these claims remain relatively rare but, with the range of potential discrimination claims increasing and awareness of discrimination issues also on the increase, it is important for employers to appreciate how best to minimise the risk of claims.
For further information on recruitment policies and discrimination law, contact Paul Archer or Helen Climance at Lemon & Co Solicitors on 01793 527141.
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<p><strong><a href="http://www.lemon-co.co.uk/article_recruitment-issues.php">Recruitment Issues </a></strong><br />
There is no general equal opportunities law which states that businesses must follow fair procedures when taking on new employees. However, there is legal protection for job applicants who suffer discrimination based on their sex, race, disability, sexuality or religion/belief....</p>