Companies ‘must heed anti-discrimination employment law’

Posted 19/10/2009

UK firms have been warned of the need to heed employment law relating to discrimination when selecting and recruiting new workers.

Recent research from the Department for Work and Pensions has revealed that people with ethnic minority names are having to submit an average of 16 job applications to yield a positive response.

This is compared to nine applications among equally-qualified workers from a white British background.

Jim Knight, the minister for employment and social reform, suggested that this was indicative of discrimination among company bosses and reminded firms that such behaviour contravenes employment law.

He said: “Employees can use the Race Relations Act to take employers to a tribunal if they are being treated unfairly and they will also get support and advice from the European Human Rights Commission.”

Mr Knight’s statement was backed up by the Trades Union Congress, which described the inequality highlighted by the findings as “shocking”.