The following legislation has been carefully considered in the creation of these recruitment and selection guidelines:

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Race Relations Act 1976 & Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Part Time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002
• Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002
• Race Relations Amendments Act 2000
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) (Amendment) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

In addition to this legislation the Commission for Racial Equality, Equal Opportunities Commission, Disability Rights Commission and the DTI offer invaluable advice in the form of Codes of Practice.

The following guide provides a brief overview of the legislation identified above. It is desirable that employees involved in the recruitment and selection process are aware of this legislation and its impact on our practices and procedures.  Further information on the relevant legislation can be obtained from the Human Resources Department at any time.

This act states that men and women should receive equal pay regardless of gender. Pay not only refers to salary/wages but also includes occupational pensions, sick pay – each term in the contract should be equalised. A man or a woman may bring a claim for equal pay under three headings: Like work; Work rated as equivalent; Work of equal value. The choice of comparator must be of the opposite sex.

This act seeks to ensure that if an individual, who has been convicted for a serious criminal offence, and who does not commit a serious offence within the rehabilitation period, they may consider themselves rehabilitated and their conviction will be ‘spent’ (treated as having been ‘wiped off the slate’).

It is unlawful to discriminate against an individual who has a spent conviction. Further guidance can be found in document L3137 – Policy on the recruitment of Ex-offenders and use of the Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure Service.

Sex Discrimination Act 1975 & Race Relations Act 1976

These acts seek to promote equality and prevent discrimination on the grounds of sex or race.

Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably because of their sex, marital status or race.

Indirect discrimination occurs when a provision, criteria or practice is applied and the proportion of persons that could comply with it is considerably smaller than persons who are not of that sex/race, it cannot be justified and it is to their detriment.

Care needs to be taken that Victimisation doesn’t occur. An individual has the right not to be treated less fairly, or to suffer any detriment as a result of pursuing a claim of discrimination.

Employers can be held responsible for the actions of its employees, which is known as vicarious liability.

Positive Discrimination is unlawful however Positive Action is lawful in certain circumstances eg encouraging applications from certain under represented genders or minority ethnic groups. However, the criteria for selection will not relate to their gender or race and must solely be based on the agreed objective criteria as set out in the person specification.

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 placed specific duties on public authorities. As a higher education institution these duties included the preparation of a written statement of our policy for promoting race equality, the assessment of the impact of this policy, the monitoring of recruitment and career progress of staff by reference to racial groups and the publishing of the results of the monitoring carried out.

The act regards a person as being disabled if “he has a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”.

It is unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person for a reason that relates to the person’s disability, or to treat them less favourably than they would treat others to whom that reason does not apply. It may only be justified if it is both material to the circumstances of the particular case and substantial.

It is the duty of the employer to make reasonable job related adjustments, to correct circumstances where a disabled person is placed at a disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled, to prevent those features having that effect. Adjustments could include altering work hours, assigning a different place of work, providing training, acquiring or modifying equipment, providing supervision etc. Further advice may be sought from the Human Resources Department.

Care should be taken in the recruitment and selection stages, when indicating the skills required of the preferred candidate in the person specification eg advertisements that indicate that a job is only open to candidates who are able bodied or that the employer is unwilling to make any reasonable adjustments and a disabled person applies for but is refused that job, the reason for the refusal could be read as unlawful discrimination.

Part time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002

The regulations seek to ensure that part time workers are not treated less favourably in their terms and conditions of employment than a comparable full time worker, unless it is objectively justified. Before these regulations part time workers claims were usually linked to sex discrimination, as the majority of part time workers were women and any less favourable treatment which occurred, was because of their sex. Whereas sex discrimination applies to direct and indirect discrimination, these regulations only refer to direct discrimination.

In terms of the recruitment and selection process, care should be taken to offer the same terms and conditions to all employees regardless of their part/full time status.

Fixed-term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002

The regulations seek to ensure that fixed term employees are not treated less favourably than a comparable permanent employee with regard to the terms and conditions of their employment, which includes training opportunities, promotions, holidays, salary etc.

In terms of the recruitment and selection process care should be taken to offer the same terms and conditions to all employees regardless of their permanent/fixed-term status.

Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

The regulations came into force on 1 December 2003.  They provide protection in the workplace against all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) (Amendment) Regulations 2003

The regulations came into force on 2 December 2003.  They provide protection in the workforce against all forms of discrimination based on grounds of religion or belief.  ACAS guidance, on commonly practised religions is attached to these notes.

Forthcoming anti-discrimination legislation due to be implemented in 2006 will make discrimination on the grounds of Age unlawful too ( Recruitment - Age Guidance ).