Keeping up with employment laws can be a headache for small firms, but it is vital to regularly review employment policy and practices and be aware of equality laws to avoid the risk of employment tribunal cases.
Each phase of the employment cycle, from the hiring and selection process all the way through to employees leaving the organisation, is governed by equality legislation and employees, even potential employees, have rights at each stage.
The majority of equality law in the UK is included in the Equality Act 2010 that came into force on 1 October 2010 and pulls together all extant anti-discrimination legislation that has developed over the past four decades. It identifies nine “protected characteristics” previously protected within separate legislation – age, disability, 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 advance equal opportunities for all.
The recruitment and selection process should be conducted in a manner that promotes equal opportunities to ensure that no unlawful discrimination occurs. Job advertisements should be widely publicised so as to encourage applications from all suitably qualified and experienced people and should not be limited to regions or publications 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 stating an age limit or group and words like “mature” or “young” should not be used.
At interview, all questions should pertain to the selection criteria and questions should not be based on assumptions about roles in the home and in the family, or the assumed qualifications 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 will affect their ability to carry out the job.
A detailed record of every interview and selection decisions should be made and kept for six months to provide feedback, if so requested by applicants. The provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 permit applicants to ask 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 employment file if the applicant is already employed byr the company). The logic for hiring or not hiring a particular applicant may also be challenged under discrimination legislation.
Once the successful applicant has accepted the employment 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.