press release
Employers warned over serial litigators
18 February 2010
Employers and recruitment agencies are being urged to tighten up
their recruitment practices or face allegations of age
discrimination.
The warning from employment lawyers at Browne Jacobson follows a
recent spate of high profile copycat cases where serial litigants
have made numerous claims against agencies and employers on the
grounds that they had been discriminated against.
The most recent case involved 51 year old accountant Margaret
Keane who made around 20 online applications for jobs for which she
was over qualified. The jobs were clearly aimed at newly qualified
accountants and as soon as she became aware that she would not be
interviewed she served the employment agency in question with a
questionnaire under the age discrimination legislation. She then
lodged claims of age discrimination at an employment tribunal,
initially against eleven agencies. Of these five went forward for
hearing.
Both the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeal Tribunal
rejected her claims deciding that her claims were not genuine as
she would not have accepted any of the roles had they been offered
to her. As a result she could not say that she had been
unfavourably treated or put at a disadvantage.
According to The Tribunals Service the number of age
discrimination claims has risen significantly in recent years from
972 in 2006/07 to 3801 in 2008/09.
James Tait, an employment law specialist at Browne Jacobson,
said:
“The news will be welcomed by employers and recruiters,
especially those who have already been stung by such troublesome
applicants in the past.
“However, it will do nothing to protect employers who have
insufficient recruitment practices or who send out advertisements
not thinking about whether it reflects what is actually required of
the job and which could be discriminatory and turn down a genuine
candidate.
“The recruitment agencies in Ms Keane’s case were protected from
the bogus applicant but the story could have been very different if
a genuine application had been made.
“This highlights the need to be careful when deciding who to
interview for positions.
“Decisions should be made on the basis of an applicant’s merits
rather than on perceptions which cannot be substantiated.
“It is still acceptable to decline an interview to a candidate
with insufficient experience or qualifications irrespective of
their age, but a potential employer or agency must be prepared to
provide proper reasons as to why such experience or qualifications
are required for the job.”