Questioning the employment process...in full

Generally speaking, security managers are free to adopt any procedures they like in the recruitment and selection of employees. That said, legislation in relation to discrimination will protect employees throughout the recruitment process. Such protection covers the advertising for a new posting in the security team, shortlisting criteria and the selection, interviewing and appointment process proper.

Employers must ensure that they don't discriminate unlawfully on the grounds of sexual or marital status, maternity, race, gender reassignment, disability, Trade Union membership or indeed non-membership. Employers may discriminate in favour of an individual on the grounds of their sex or race where being of a particular sex or race is a genuine qualification for the job at hand.

From 2003, employers will have additional obligations not to discriminate either in recruitment or throughout the employment process on the grounds of religion and sexual orientation. Age discrimination will be outlawed in 2006.

There are several steps that managers can take to avoid discrimination. For one, employers need to review the job specification each time a vacancy arises. Needless to say, the job requirements should match those necessary for the tasks to be performed and should be justifiable. Age limits may, for example, indirectly discriminate against women who (due to family responsibilities) began their careers later.

An advertisement which shows an intention to discriminate is unlawful. Advertising law is very widely and clearly defined, and includes every form of advertising (whether it be aimed at the public or not). Employers should always avoid the use of sex-specific terminology, and either use neutral terminology or stipulate the alternative.

Keep clear of discrimination
In a similar vein, application forms should not be used to screen out applicants according to sex, race or on the grounds of disability. Personal details should be kept on a separate part of the application form, and it should be made clear that such details will not be used as part of the selection criteria – they're purely for monitoring purposes.

In drawing up a shortlist of potential candidates, employers should use objective criteria otherwise discrimination is likely to arise. Records should always be kept such that the shortlisting process may be monitored.

Questions asked at an interview should not reflect subjective assessments by the interviewer. If you're responsible for interviewing potential security officers, you must receive appropriate training relevant to anti-discrimination legislation. Interviewers should also avoid raising questions about future marital and family issues. Even when asked of all officer candidates, these questions could be interpreted as showing bias against female applicants. This is the case even when an employer asks all candidates about family commitments.

Questions asked at an interview should not reflect subjective assessments by the interviewer. If you’re responsible for interviewing potential security officers, you must receive appropriate training relevant to anti-discrimination legislation. Interviewe

As with shortlisting, relevant and objective criteria should be used in the final selection process, and it must always be clear how the final decision was reached. However, the employer doesn't have a legal obligation to inform any unsuccessful candidates as to the reasons why they weren't selected for the job.

The employment relationship
The Contract of Employment forms a foundation of the employment relationship. It may be written down, verbally agreed or indeed be a mixture of the two.

If one party breaks the terms of that contract, then the other will be entitled to seek damages for breach of contract.

It's important for managers to make a distinction between employees and workers as the legal rights enjoyed by each differ in many ways. A worker is someone who, like an employee, works for an employer under a Contract of Employment and who personally performs work or provides services to the employer. Unlike an employee, though, they don't have the right to statutory protection (ie from unfair dismissal), or the right to receive redundancy payment.

There are four main elements involved in forming a valid contract for a member of your security team. First, there's the offer. An indication by the employer of a willingness to be bound by a contract. Its terms must be clear, certain and easily enforced. The contract must be supported by consideration (ie something of value being exchanged between the parties).

For the contract to come into force, the offer must be accepted in its entirety and on an unconditional basis. There also has to be an intention that the agreement be legally binding in order that the whole contract will work.

Security managers ought to know that there's actually no legal requirement for a Contract of Employment to be in writing. However, under Section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 employers are obliged to provide each employee with a written statement of particulars relating to certain terms of their contract. This statement must be provided no later than two months after the beginning of employment.