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Did you know that any candidate is entitled to access to any notes you make in the recruitment process, including at an interview? Could those notes be used to suggest that you have discriminated against an applicant?
Do you know that there are
certain questions that you are not allowed to ask a potential employee?
Without deliberate intent on your part, would the law consider you to be guilty
of discrimination?
Asking a female applicant if she
is pregnant is discrimination, even if you ask all the male applicants as well.
You might ask all applicants if they are currently receiving any form of medical
attention.
You should not ask a candidate if they are married, or whether or not they intend to have children.
You must not attempt to find out a person’s sexual orientation or their religion.
Asylum and Immigration Act
1996
Under section 8 of this act, an employer commits a
criminal offence by employing someone who does not have a right to work in the
UK.
The application of Section 8 has been amended in respect of all employees recruited since 1 May 2004. Details are at http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk and http://www.workingintheuk.gov.uk.
You can claim a statutory defence by getting and retaining specific evidence of entitlement such as a taking black and white copy of a UK passport describing the holder as a British Citizen (it is illegal to take a colour photocopy of a passport), provided you also take reasonable steps to ensure that it is valid such as
To avoid a charge of discrimination for which there is an unlimited fine, you must treat all applicants in the same way, so you cannot ask one applicant to prove their entitlement without asking all the others. Do your recruitment procedures comply, or do they leave you exposed?
Reminder - disclaimer applies. Please feedback your comments. This page was last modified 21 July 2004.