Employment Policies And The Equality Act - Recruitment



Posted: Monday, March 14, 2011

by Jon Aslin
Clickdocs

Staying up to date with employment laws can be a headache for small firms, but it is vital to frequently review employment policies and procedures and be aware of equality legislation to avoid the risk of employment tribunal cases.

Every phase of the employment cycle, from the hiring and selection procedure all the way through to employees leaving the firm, is governed by equality laws and employees, or possible employees, have rights at every stage.

The bulk of equality legislation in the United Kingdom is contained in the Equality Act 2010 which came into force on 1 October 2010 and pulls together all extant anti-discrimination law that has been introduced over the past forty years. It includes nine "protected characteristics" previously protected within separate legislation - disability, age, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity - and provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and develop equal opportunities for all.

The hiring and selection process should be carried out in a way that promotes equal opportunities to ensure that no unlawful discrimination occurs. Job advertisements should be widely distributed in order to encourage applications from all suitably qualified and experienced persons and should not be limited to regions or channels which would exclude or disproportionately reduce applications from a particular gender or racial or age group. In addition, the advertisement should avoid prescribing requirements as to marital status or specifying an age limit or group and words like "mature" or "young" should be avoided.

At interview, all questions should pertain to the selection criteria and questions should not be derived from assumptions about roles at and in the family, or the assumed suitability of different ethnic or age groups for the post in question. Job seekers must not be asked their age or about their health and disabled applicants should not be asked about the nature of their disability or how it might affect their ability to perform the job.

A complete record of every interview and selection decisions should be maintained for six months to provide feedback, if subsequently requested by applicants. The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 enable applicants to request to see interview notes where they form part of a "set" of information about the applicant (e.g. the application form, references taken up etc, or the full personnel file if the applicant is already employed byr the company). The reasons for appointing or not hiring a particular applicant may also be challenged under discrimination laws.

Once the successful applicant has accepted the job offer, a written statement of the main terms and conditions of their employment is required by law to be given to the employee inside two months of them starting in the job.

You can find a complete range of Employment Contract Templates and employment policies and many other legal documents at: Clickdocs Legal Agreements .
 
Jon Aslin is a director of http://www.clickdocs.co.uk. After studying Engineering at University he spent 15 years in international business in management, technical and comercial positions. For the last 10 years or so he has been involved in online commerce, having teamed up with a lawyer to develop Clickdocs - now a leading supplier of online legal documents and templates to the UK market.
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