The High Court has upheld a challenge by way of judicial review to the present criminal record checks scheme, finding that the relevant statutory provisions are incompatible with the European Convention of Human Rights. Ryan Stringer sets out the implications of the decision for employers.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that both the claimant's former and prospective employers committed discrimination arising from disability when a negative verbal reference resulted in a job offer being withdrawn.
An employment tribunal has found that an employer did not commit discrimination arising from disability and met its duty to make reasonable adjustments when it withdrew a conditional job offer after health and safety concerns over a job applicant's epilepsy.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that there is nothing in agency workers laws to prevent employers from choosing permanent members of staff over agency workers for job vacancies.
The Supreme Court has held that the requirement in criminal record checks to disclose all convictions and cautions, including those given for minor offences and crimes committed as a child, breaches the European Convention on Human Rights.
This case serves as a reminder of the importance of having a recruitment policy and procedure in place that is not discriminatory and properly implemented and followed and of recording each stage of the recruitment process.
It is perfectly possible for there to be very little direct evidence of discrimination in a recruitment process, but for an employee to win a tribunal claim because the employer's failure to keep a clear record leads to inconsistencies in its defence, as this disability discrimination case shows.