Recruitment is the lifeblood of any business, but it can be an expensive process – particularly if you fall foul of UK recruitment law.
If someone applying for a job with you thinks you've behaved unfairly, then they could build a case against you.
We know it can be hard to keep up with legislation when you're running a business - contact us and see how we can help with the legal side of recruitment.
Recruitment law exists to protect people against unfair or discriminatory practice by employers. The recruitment support that First4Lawyers provides to businesses helps to ensure recruitment practices comply with the law.
The government passed a piece of legislation called the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations to provide people with protection when using employment agencies, but it also affects any business involved in recruiting and employing people.
The support offered by specialist recruitment and employment lawyers, such as First4Lawyers, can be vital to achieving business success when hiring staff.
Perhaps the most important legal factor for employers to consider when recruiting for a position is discrimination.
If you discriminate against someone during the recruitment process, you could put yourself at risk of having claims made against you.
Your actions could be direct or indirect, and it doesn’t matter whether you discriminated deliberately or not – you could still be liable.
The way you advertise the position you are recruiting for will come under close scrutiny if you are accused of discrimination, so it is important that you consider the legal implications of your job listing very carefully.
It must not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of their age, disability, gender, marriage status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or sexual orientation.
When creating your job advert, you must be careful not to imply that the position is only open to certain people – unless that is the case due to the requirements of the position.
For example, if your job advert states that you are seeking a recent graduate, when a person who graduated a long time ago could carry out the position just as well, you could be accused of age discrimination.
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Expert legal services for your business needs - whether it's employment law, policies or commercial property, we can help.
Our fully trained legal advisors are happy to offer initial guidance and advice for free
All our solicitors are pre-vetted and experts in providing legal services for business
We offer advice with no obligation. We never cold-call or apply pressure to our customers
When you are recruiting for a position, there are certain personal characteristics that are protected, meaning you cannot ask a prospective employee about them.
The Equality Act 2010 prohibits you from asking people about their age, their sexual orientation, status as a transsexual person, marital status or civil partnership status, gender, religion or lack thereof, race or ethnic background or disability.
By asking about these characteristics, or a person’s health or whether they have - or plan to have - children, in a job interview you could be seen to be discriminating against people on the basis of their answers.
The law does not require people to tell you about criminal convictions in the job application process if those convictions are spent.
Neither can you use a person’s membership of a trade union as a factor during recruitment.
The law does allow you to select people with protected characteristics for a role over someone without them if your workforce, profession, or industry is under-represented by people with that characteristic. For example, you can also show favour towards disabled people in the recruitment process.
Defending yourself against a claim of discrimination or unfair practice in recruitment can be difficult and stressful, but you do have options.
It is essential you seek advice from professional employment law solicitors, who can provide you with expert legal assistance to construct a solid defence to any allegations being made against you.
We provide recruitment support to businesses of all sizes. The legal experts we work with have a great deal of experience in handling employment issues. Get in touch to discuss your requirements. We'll review your case for free and you're under no obligation to proceed.
