Examples of bad practice by employers
The question below appeared on the application form for a job at a waste disposal company. What’s wrong with the wording above? It’s not clear. The role is ‘covered by the ROA’ – this means that the applicant doesn’t have to disclose spent convictions. This isn’t made clear in the question. It’s misleading. The use […]
As an employer, it’s not only important that you do the correct level of criminal record check, but it’s also important you communicate that you’re doing the right level. This is something that Morrisons found out when there was a news article where they were ‘slammed for snooping on job applicants’. The article starts off by […]
Steve’s story (as a video, below) shows how, since a minor incident when he was 19, he forged a successful career in the City for the next 16 years, but then it caught up on him. When he applied for his ‘dream job’, he disclosed his minor conviction as the employer had suggested he needed […]
We were contacted by an individual who, having applied for a position in a warehouse which involved the supervision of a group of volunteers to pick, pack and dispatch online orders for an e-commerce business. He was told that if he were successful the organisation would be applying for an enhanced DBS check. As this […]
This case involves an organisation that recruits couriers. We were contacted by an individual who was in the process of applying for a job as a self-employed neighbourhood courier. As part of the online application form, the organisation involved had stated that: “l will ask you to provide a current DBS check (formally CRB). Please […]
We’ve recently worked on a case where the employer had a confusing question about criminal records. We were contacted by an individual who had just received notification from a local school that his application for a teaching position had not been successful. The individual explained that he hadn’t been surprised by the decision as the school […]
We’ve recently worked on a case where an employer had a blanket exclusion for certain offences. We were contacted by an individual who had applied to a training organisation which specialised in working with people with convictions with the aim of getting them into paid employment. The majority of individuals they work with are either […]
We were contacted by an individual after the decision of a major supermarket to revoke a job offer for a delivery driver job following disclosure of a conviction which had come to light as a result of a basic criminal record check. The individual confirmed that prior to applying for the job he had checked […]
This case relates to a large background screening company that is registered with the DBS to conduct standard and enhanced checks – they’re a large company in this sector, and have been in the top 10 registered bodies (by number of applications to the DBS) in recent years. As part of their ‘offer’, they also […]
This case study involves a university that advertised a teaching fellow post, subject to a standard or enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. A teaching position in a university is not on the list of exempted professions in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions) Order 1975. This sets out which jobs (e.g. doctors, nurses, school […]