Don't fall foul of discrimination laws when advertising for staff

Don’t fall foul of discrimination laws when you're filling staff vacancies or you can expect a legal backlash, says lawyer Mark Stevens. Spread your net wide It makes sense to advertise every job you have on offer in order to get the greatest range of applicants. But there’s another reason to advertise - and that’s because informal methods of recruitment, such as word of mouth, are risky. They tend to result in replication of the current workplace demographic and 'cloning' whereby people recruit people like themselves. According to Mark Stevens, an associate at law firm Veale Wasbrough Vizards this leaves an employer at risk of a discrimination claim as targeted search and selection may only access a narrow pool of applicants. He says: "Using a range of recruitment methods is more likely to attract a diverse pool of applicants, and minimise the risk of a potential claim." Mind your language Employers need to be careful about what they write in an advert. If there’s a sure-fire way of getting into hot water, it's to use gender specific job titles such as "salesman", "chairman" or "waitress" - all likely to give rise to a discrimination claim. The advice is to use a gender-neutral alternative - or, if that's too painful, use both the male and female titles. You also need to be sensitive over your choice of language; carelessly chosen adjectives can suggest discrimination where none is intended. For example, "energetic" could potentially deter disabled candidates, while liberal scatterings of superlatives can also be risky; those adverts seeking "spectacular", "dazzling" and "stunning" candidate skills are vague and imprecise and potentially create difficulties in meeting the objective justification test. Postive discriminiation Unlikely as it may seem, it may be permissible to include encouragement for applicants from under-represented candidates - positive action in recruitment. However, care should be taken to ensure that the eligibility criteria for positive action are met or the advert will be unlawful. An alternative way to look at the problem is that if an employer doesn't meet the criteria for positive action in recruitment in the advert wording itself, it could still target a particular publication to reach the under-represented group, provided this it is only one of a number of sources. "And of course," says Mark, "where an employer has two equally qualified job applicants, it can, in very limited circumstances favour the application from the applicant who has a protected characteristic that is under-represented in the workforce, although specific advice should be sought in relation to this." Don't limit your options Leading on from this last point, employers should be careful about where adverts are placed. Again, the objective is to ensure that your advert reaches a diverse readership. Here Mark recommends asking publications about their readership profile and circulation: "Equal opportunities guidance encourages employers to advertise widely including in local and national papers, job centres, trade magazines and company websites." He adds that not all of these will be suitable in each case, so thought should be given before disregarding a particular method. Another point to note is to be careful of publications read mainly by one gender or other group as a sole advert site. For example, advertising for a receptionist in magazines read mainly by women is not just stereotyping but is likely to discriminate against men. The buck stops with you Lastly, Mark advises that employers should remember not to assume that if a recruitment consultant or agency places the advert that you’re not responsible for the content_ "The buck stops with the employer and this includes information disseminated through job centres, career offices, schools, and colleges." In other words, while in some cases the agent placing the advert will also, separately, be liable, this will not get you off the hook. Written instructions should be given to the agent in case there is later a dispute.