Acas, Britain’s leading employment organisation, has warned businesses that ageism is not exclusive to the older generation.

From 1 October, the Age Discrimination regulations make it unlawful to discriminate against employees because of their age. There is a risk that employers may be focusing solely on how it affects their older employees.

Acas Chair Rita Donaghy said:

“It’s easy to forget that age discrimination can affect all employees, from the youngest to the oldest. Rightly, there has been a lot of publicity about older workers – but we shouldn’t forget that the new legislation will require employers to change their behaviour towards the younger generation as well. It is equally unacceptable to describe someone as being ‘wet behind the ears’ as it is to call them ‘over the hill’”.

Ms Donaghy added:

“DTI anticipates that there may be 8,000 age discrimination cases brought to UK tribunals in the first year, so employers really can’t afford to go sleepwalking into this. But they should not feel they are on their own either. Acas’ prime concern is to prevent the need for such cases by helping bosses to get it right in the first place.

“We provide advice and training to meet the needs of any organisation that wants help with the new requirements, whether it’s about recruitment, promotion or retirement. I strongly recommend employers visit our website on www.acas.org.uk to find out how we can help them.”

According to the DTI, UK employers waste up to £700 million a year by making age-based assumptions about their staff – and failing to capitalise on their potential, abilities and experience as a result.

There are some simple steps that companies can take to overcome age bias in the workplace:

• Recruitment advertisements – avoid specifying length of experience as this disadvantages certain age groups
• Application forms – ask for date of birth on equality monitoring forms only and use skills based forms
• Selection procedures – train managers to avoid stereotypes
• Training – make sure it is open to all employees
• Performance appraisal – set the same standards regardless of age
• Redundancy policy – review your policies: using length of service to select employees for redundancy is likely to be discriminatory
• Equality policy – add age to your current policy

Acas has over 30 years’ expertise in good employment practice. Its guidance – Age and the workplace – is available free online from the Acas website (wwww.acas.org.uk). If employers or employees need further help, they can call the helpline on 08457 47 47 47 for free confidential advice or register online for one of Acas’ training courses, which are available throughout Britain.

The employer guidance covers the key issues, including training, equal opportunities, recruitment, promotion, performance appraisals, sickness pay, conditions, benefits, redundancy, pensions and retirement. It will help employers to recognise that being age-positive is a business advantage, not just a legal requirement.

ACAS September 29, 2006

Introducing an alternative solicitors’ training route could lead to racial segregation and will “do nothing” to improve minorities’ City prospects, according to the Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL) and the Black Solicitors Network (BSN).

The Law Society proposed in August to allow students to qualify as solicitors via work experience at a number of “non-accredited” law firms, rather than just one, and building up a training portfolio. SAL spokesman Sundeep Bhatia fears that such a “two-speed” system could lead to prejudice against ethnic minority lawyers, who were more likely to choose the alternative route to qualification, becoming “entrenched”, as the new route might be seen as inferior to the one-firm route.

While acknowledging that the new route could enable more minority students to qualify as legal aid lawyers, and welcoming its greater emphasis on practical experience, he argued that it “would not enable them to gain a foothold in the City in any way, shape or form”.

His concerns were echoed by BSN chairman Stephen Friday, who said: “This will open up many ways for ethnic minority lawyers to qualify, but it could become a two-tier system, where firms do not want to take on people coming from the non-accredited route. If this happens, we will just be pushing the current problems one stage further – people will be able to qualify, but it will be hard to get a job.

“While our members prefer the option of at least getting the qualification, even if they do not get the job, I don’t see this doing anything to deal with inequalities in the City.”

Society equality and diversity committee chairwoman Caroline Herbert countered by suggesting that the proposals were never meant to make access to the City easier, as City firms’ tendency to select trainees from particular universities had already created a two-tier system.

Law Society Gazette, September 28, 2006

Falsified CVs are on the increase, according to new research by employee screening specialist The Risk Advisory Group (TRAG).

The study of almost 4,000 CVs found that 20 per cent contained “significant lies” in areas such as academic qualifications and court judgments, leading the Group to conclude that falsifications are both increasing and becoming more serious.

Other inaccuracies discovered by TRAG included failures to disclose directorships or bankruptcy and discrepancies in details of previous roles.

In one case highlighted by TRAG, screening tests against a potential recruit for an investment bank, who “had not declared any adverse credit history or corporate interest”, revealed that a bankruptcy order had been issued against him and that he held several undisclosed directorships.

Sal Remtulla, TRAG’s head of employee screening, said: “This year’s results have yet again brought to our attention how unscrupulous candidates can be when applying for jobs, and this highlights their apparent lack of conscience towards potential new employers.”

“The serious nature of these discrepancies emphasises the need for heightened attention during the recruitment process,” she warned.

Financial Times, October 9, 2006

An Exeter employment tribunal has ordered former Mayor, Councillor Tony Prior, to pay £33,697 in damages after town clerk Sally Bing said she was sexually harassed and victimised.

The harassment included looking down Ms Bing’s blouse, inappropriate telephone calls and emails, and offering Ms Bing money with a sexual motivation. When Ms Bing complained and reported Councillor Prior he further victimised her by issuing her with a written warning and putting out a press release making various claims about her with the intention of calling her integrity into question. As a result of her treatment Ms Bing became sick with stress and eventually resigned.

Ms Bing has already settled a similar claim against Chard Town Council, which agreed to pay £25,000 in loss of earnings, bringing her total compensation to £58,697.

Jenny Watson, chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, which supported Ms Bing’s case, commented: “Sexual harassment is still an issue causing women like Sally Bing stress and financial penalties when they leave their jobs as a result of it.

“We suspect that cases that come to our attention – like Ms. Bing’s – are only the tip of the iceberg. It’s important for women to know what they can do to tackle harassment – and for employers to know how they can help stamp it out in the workplace.”

The EOC has recently published new guidelines entitled Sexual Harassment: Managers’ Questions Answered, to help employers prevent sexual harassment. Copies are available from: www.eoc.org.uk/PDF/sexual_harassment_managers_questions.pdf

Equal Opportunities Commission, October 10, 2006

An ECJ equal pay ruling could still leave employers who offer men and women different rates for similar jobs open to legal challenge, the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned.

The Court rejected an appeal by health and safety inspector Bernadette Cadman, who argued that it was unfair to pay male staff more than their female colleagues in the same post because they had been in the role longer. However, Dianah Worman, a diversity adviser at the CIPD, warned employers not to become complacent in response to the ruling.

“This judgment is a confirmation of much that we already know. The European Court of Justice ruling is a reminder to employers that they cannot just rely on the fact that a woman has been employed for less time than her male counterparts,” she said. “While the court has concluded that long service can be a valid reason to pay one worker more than another, they have left the door wide open for challenges to employers from individual employees. Unions were seeking a knock-out blow to unequal pay from the ECJ. They haven’t got that, but they landed a punch and could still win many cases on points.”

“We’d still strongly advise employers to review their reward schemes and ensure that they can make a case for why higher-paid workers are adding more value to the business than lower paid ones.”

CIPD press release, October 4, 2006

Most employees believe that admitting to any kind of mental problem would jeopardise their future prospects, a survey shows.

UnumProvident, the disability insurer, said that common problems such as stress, depression and anxiety were still taboo for many staff. If staff were to admit to having such problems most would be deemed less employable, receive poor references and see cuts in pay and benefits, according to the firm’s findings.

“Around three in every ten employees will experience stress, depression or some other form of mental ill health in any year,” said UnumProvident’s corporate services director Joanne Hindle. “The taboo of mental ill-health needs to be broken so that employees and employers can pinpoint problems at the outset.”

She added: “Company directors badly underestimate the likely incidence of mental ill health among employees and colleagues and the implications for their business.”

Forum for Private Business press release, October 3, 2006

A pressure group is taking the Government to court over the new Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.

Heyday, the retirement group, believes that the Mandatory Retirement Ages clause in the Regulations will allow employers to force employees to retire at or after 65 and will enable companies to refuse to recruit anyone over the age of 65. The group believes that the Regulations contravene a European Directive outlawing age discrimination and leave people over 65 without the right to choose to continue working.

“Currently, workers have no rights to stay in employment past the age of 65 and are being driven out of work,” said Neil Churchill from Heyday. “Forcing people to retire is denying people the right to work, a right which everyone should have regardless of age.”

If the European High Court declares that the new law incorrectly implements the European Equal Treatment Directive, which outlaws age discrimination, this would mean that the UK Government had acted unlawfully and would have to amend the legislation to give workers over 65 full employment rights.

In an unusual move, a High Court Judge has ordered that the judicial review be decided via a ‘rolled up’ hearing. This means that a judge will consider the application for permission for the case to proceed in an oral hearing which, if given the green light, will lead straight to a full trial.

Ailsa Ogilvie, director of Heyday, said: “This legal action is not something we have entered into lightly. The sheer strength of opinion expressed through a recent survey confirmed we were right. It is clear that the 560,000 people who each year reach 65 and lose the right to work need a voice that is heard.”

Age Concern press release, October 3, 2006

There is no legal right for most workers to have time off for bank or public holidays.

Proposals to make bank and public holidays obligatory for most workers have been dropped and instead a DTI consultation document proposes phasing in an increase in the basic annual paid holiday entitlement for full time workers from 20 days per year as at present to 28 days. In practice in most cases it is likely that bank and public holidays will account for the extra 8 days. The law which gives power to make the required regulations (Work and Families Act 2006 s.13) comes into force on 1st October 2006 and it is likely that the phasing in will be spread over two or three years starting from October 2007. The TUC has calculated that approximately two million employees will receive more holiday than at present if the proposals go ahead.

Separately, a St Andrews Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Bill is under consideration in the Scottish Parliament which would make St Andrew’s day a public holiday in Scotland, starting from 30th November 2007. However there would be no legally enforceable right to have that day off and if they took it workers would lose one of their existing public holidays – so in effect it would be a swap of one public holiday for another.

www.emplaw.co.uk, October 2006

Local authorities in Scotland have been criticised by MSPs for failing to address long-standing issues of equal pay that could ultimately cost the sector around £500m in back-pay for female employees.

The criticisms were levelled by members of the Scottish Executive’s Finance Committee some seven years after the launch of the ‘single status’ agreement in Scottish local government, which was supposed to iron out discrepancies between men’s and women’s pay. According to the public-sector union Unison, only one of Scotland’s 32 councils has successfully introduced a new pay-scale in line with the agreement during that time.

The Committee added that the Executive should have done more to provide “pro-active leadership” on the issue; in response, the Executive said that councils should have been aware of their liabilities and noted that councils had received substantial increases in funding in recent years.

The Herald, October 4, 2006