This is a guest post provided for us by James Riches on behalf of Orbis Solicitors
Employment law is a very complex field, made even more so by the fact that it is constantly changing. For many recruiters, their workload can make it can impossible to keep up with every piece of legislation, and for that reason it is best to seek advice from experienced employment solicitors.
Often, companies will only contact a solicitor in reaction to a problem. A much better way to approach employment law is to get advice before such issues occur, and ensure the procedures you have in place will protect you against such claims.
Here are a few factors for recruiters to consider when they begin the hiring process:
Discrimination
You may think that discrimination cases only occur as a result of an incident within the workplace. While this is certainly often the case, in fact the Equality Act 2010 covers all stages of the employment process, including the interview and candidate selection process for new employees.
The Act also includes a set of ‘protected characteristics’ – age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, marital status, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment. If it can be proved that any candidate put forward for a role was rejected based on the fact that they possess any of these characteristics, that company can leave themselves open to a compensation claim.
Ensuring that clear anti-discrimination policies are in place is a key starting point to protecting against this, however it is also important to carry these out on a practical level. Skilled employment law solicitors will be able to advise you on the best way to go about this.
HR and Personnel policies
This is most certainly an area where it is best to check you have the correct processes in place before a problem becomes apparent. Many employment solicitors will offer to carry out a full HR audit for you in order to iron out any policies that could be improved.
However, many are affiliated with local and national HR professionals, and can offer the much better option of involving them in the process in order to provide you with bespoke guidance and the benefit of their expertise in drafting the appropriate documents.
Contract of employment
If the contract is neglected at the start of the employment process, this could have potentially disastrous consequences later on. For example, the company may need to take disciplinary action against an employee or fire them, while it may be that redundancies become necessary.
It is therefore vital to ensure the terms of your standard employment contract set out the rights and responsibilities of both the business and employee. This provides clear guidelines for both sides and will work in your favour should a disgruntled former employee make a claim for unfair or constructive dismissal after their employment ends.
Of course, employment solicitors can also advise you with respect to specific employees or job openings. It is also important that recruiters understand what is meant by ‘implied terms’. These are things that may not be included in the contract but are expected by law, such as the minimum wage and the right not to be exposed to discrimination.
These are just some of the issues which recruiters need to be aware of before they begin hiring people for their business. If in doubt, get in touch with an employment solicitor as soon as possible to ensure your company is protected.
