Recruitment
In Kratzer v R+V Allgemeine Versicherung AG [2016] IRLR 888 ECJ, the ECJ held that a job applicant who is not genuinely seeking employment but whose sole purpose is to seek compensation for alleged discrimination with regard to his or her application is not protected by EU discrimination law.
In this German case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a person who applies for a job with the sole purpose of making an application for compensation for discrimination is not covered by the Equal Treatment Framework Directive (2000/78/EC) or the Equal Opportunities and Equal Treatment Directive (2006/54/EC) and may be considered as having committed an abuse of rights under EU law.
An employment tribunal has awarded a claimant damages for breach of contract where he verbally accepted a job offer made by the employment agency acting for the employer, and the employer subsequently withdrew the offer.
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committed discrimination arising from disability when a negative verbal reference resulted in a job offer being withdrawn.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.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to recruitment.