Updated to include information on measures relating to disability in the Employment Rights Bill and the forthcoming Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.
While positive action in recruitment is laudable, and to be encouraged as a means of overcoming disadvantage and low participation, employers need to think very carefully about how they go about it, because if they make mistakes the cost may be high. Jason Braier explains why.
Practical guidance on using positive action when taking steps to close the gender pay gap, including the difference between positive action and positive discrimination, measures that could amount to positive action and how to develop an action plan.
In Furlong v Chief Constable of Cheshire Police, an employment tribunal held that a police force's recruitment process discriminated against a white heterosexual male candidate who was rejected after the positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010 were applied to a pool of 127 applicants who passed the interview stage.