This page offers a guide designed to help advertisers and employers comply with employment legislation relating to discrimination. They are not to be read as legal advice and are not comprehensive.
Equality legislation doesn't just protect people from discrimination when they're in a job. It also applies to the recruitment and selection process, with the aim of making sure that no one is treated less favourably when applying for a job.
Equality legislation covers the entire recruitment process. For example:
No job advertisement should discriminate on the basis of any of the protected grounds, unless there is objective evidence that the discrimination is lawful. Here are a few examples:
Extracted from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website - click here for full text.
Stating a preference for a man or woman in a job advertisement is unlawful sex discrimination unless the requirements of the particular job mean that it is lawful to employ only a man or a woman. Gender-specific job titles, such as 'handyman' or 'salesgirl', should therefore be avoided. It is also likely to be unlawful to use language that indirectly implies the job is suited to one sex or other.
Under certain limited circumstances - especially those known as genuine occupational requirements (GORs) and genuine occupational qualifications (GOQs) - discrimination may be lawful.
If you believe that you have a situation which might arise within an exception, we would recommend that you take professional advice.
Extracted from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website - click here for full text.
Stating a preference for a particular ethnic group in a job advertisement is unlawful race discrimination unless the job has a genuine occupational requirement for someone from a particular community, or if a specific community can be shown to have been under-represented in an area of work. All advertisements that discriminate on racial grounds are unlawful, so you must quote the section of the Race Relations Act that exempts you from this general prohibition.
Extracted from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website - click here for full text.
Advertisements should not include age limits, unless these can be objectively justified. Avoid using words and phrases such as 'young and dynamic' or 'mature person'. These could result in a complaint of age discrimination since they suggest an employer is looking for applicants from a particular age group.
Extracted from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website - click here for full text.
To discriminate means to classify people into groups and to treat them differently accordingly. Discrimination is unlawful where it is practised against a particular group that has been protected by law.
There are several types of legally defined discrimination:
This section gives examples of the various types of discrimination in employment situations.
An example of direct discrimination in employment would be requiring that job applicants have a particular national origin.
An example of indirect discrimination in employment would be stating in a job advertisement that candidates must be over six feet tall. This could indirectly discriminate against women, who are less likely to fulfil this requirement.
Similarly, a rule against wearing headgear at work could indirectly discriminate against Sikh men who wear turbans in accordance with their religious practice.
An example of victimisation in employment would be if a person who has made a discrimination complaint against an employer is then discouraged from applying for training or promotion because of the complaint.
Examples of workplace harassment might include:
The Disability Discrimination Act requires employers to make adjustments to working practices and environments where necessary. This is so that people with disabilities are not disadvantaged. Common examples of workplace adjustments include:
Employers must not tell people to discriminate or put pressure on them to do so. For example, if a GP instructed his receptionist not to register anyone who might need help from an interpreter, this would constitute an instruction to discriminate.
Segregation is physically separating someone from others because of their gender, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability, belief or religion.
For example, women might be given restricted access to careers advice, work-experience placements and training opportunities for certain jobs, which are seen as being traditionally male.
Extracted from the Equality and Human Rights Commission website - click here for full text.
How to Select a Good Recruitment Agency | Agency Fees Explained | How to Work with a Recruitment Company
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
506 agencies with 561 branches UK wide currently online. See more »
Bookmark this page...