Employing staff
Contents
Basic recruitment principles
When recruiting staff, to avoid potential legal liability, you must:
- Not write (when advertising vacancies) or say (when interviewing) anything that could be seen as discrimination against any prospective applicant in terms of sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, race, colour, ethnic background, marital status, disability, trade union membership and/or activity, age, religion/belief (in England, Wales and Scotland) or religious belief/political opinion (in Northern Ireland)
- Treat every applicant the same
- Check an applicant's entitlement to work in the UK (before employing them)
- Record your reasons for not offering a job to any unsuccessful applicant
- Ensure that these reasons are kept for a suitable period and can't be interpreted as showing an intention to discriminate.
Note: Sometimes a job will require an applicant of a particular sex, race, age, religion/belief or sexual orientation. If this is a genuine requirement or qualification for the job, then it will not be unlawful to discriminate against certain sectors of society. If you feel that this may apply in your situation, get legal advice.
Asking each candidate to complete a job application form will be useful in compiling personnel records, assisting the objective selection of suitable candidates and providing a framework for interviews.
The guides in this section cover how to recruit the right staff and how to treat applicants fairly. It includes sections about:
- Job descriptions
- Application forms
- Job interviews
- Criminal record checks
- Right to work checks
- Checking references
- Making a job offer
- Inductions
- Retaining recruitment documents
- Supplying a reference
Employment contracts
There are also guides in this section about employment contracts, what needs to be in them, and what other documentation you need to have in place. It includes sections about:
- Written statements and minimum requirements
- Important clauses
- Implied terms
- Protecting wages
- Disciplinary and grievance procedures
- Other business rules and procedures
- Terminating a contract
What is the law guide
The Desktop Lawyer law guide aims to present the law to you in a comprehensive yet jargon-free and easy-to-read format. Our law guide is constantly kept up to date with changes in business and family law by our team of in house solicitors, and includes information across all the legal jurisdictions in the UK.
Our law guide is free to use. Where we provide documents related to this area of law, or where they may help you with any legal issue in this area, they will be listed to the right of this message.