Selecting staff
In Matier v Spring & Airbrake Ireland Ltd, a Northern Ireland industrial tribunal awarded £3,155 for age discrimination to a jobseeker who was told that a prospective employer was "looking for a younger person".
In James v Coedffranc Community Council, an employment tribunal upheld an unsuccessful job applicant's age discrimination claim after an interviewer said "I've just noticed how old you are" and jotted down older candidates' ages on interview notes.
In South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust v Lee and others, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) held that a decision to withdraw a job offer that was at least partially influenced by a reference that focused on the applicant's sickness absence levels was discriminatory.
In Government Legal Service v Brookes [2017] IRLR 780 EAT, the EAT held that an applicant for a solicitors' training scheme who has Asperger's syndrome suffered unlawful disability discrimination when she was required to sit a test in a multiple choice format in the recruitment process.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has held that a requirement for a job applicant with Asperger's syndrome to complete an online multiple-choice psychometric test was indirectly discriminatory. The EAT also upheld claims for discrimination arising from disability and failure to make reasonable adjustments.
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 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committed discrimination arising from disability when a negative verbal reference resulted in a job offer being withdrawn.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.
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.
Employment law cases: HR and legal information and guidance relating to selecting staff.