Recruitment laws that could catch you out

So you’re ready to make the leap from being a one man band to taking on your first employee.

Congratulations! But this isn’t the kind of thing you can go into without doing a bit of preparatory work.

There are a number of recruitment laws that could catch you if you’re not careful. And they’re not just the most obvious ones you might think of. For example, the emphasis is on you as the employer to ensure your staff are legally entitled to work in the UK… and it’s you, not them, that will be penalised if they’re not.

Use this handy Bytestart guide to find out which laws you need to bear in mind at every stage of the recruitment process.

Advertising Jobs

The first place to be careful is when you put a job advert together. You must be very careful not to be seen to be discriminating – positively or negatively.

“We want a keen young trainee” – whoops, that’s age discrimination. “Man needed for heavy lifting” – nope, that’s sex discrimination. You can only do that if a person’s sex is relevant to the job, for example you need a man to clean male toilets.

Keep your advert to the point and relevant to the vacant position. List the skills the job requires, but ensure they are totally appropriate to the role.

Be aware of advertising a job that breaks the law. If you say they must do 60 hours a week, that’s breaking the Working Time Regulations. If you advertise a wage of £3 an hour, that breaks the minimum wage.

Interview Process

During interview, you need to be very careful what kind of questions you ask people. It’s natural to want to know as much as possible about someone that may join your business, but you can’t be seen to be discriminating. If you are, you are leaving yourself open to an employment tribunal.

The four most obvious areas to be aware of are sex, age, disability and race.

Obviously avoid sexist comments, even if you are joking. What might sound funny in an interview will sound horrendous in a tribunal. Don’t ask people revealing questions, such as if they are planning to have children. You might be conscious of the potentially high costs of maternity cover, but you could be seen to be discriminating.

You must also treat people of all ages the same. It is illegal to say someone is too old for a job. You can only judge someone’s suitability for a role by their skills and experience.

If a candidate discloses a disability to you, that’s not a legally valid reason to not offer them a job. You must genuinely consider if that person can do the job, perhaps with some adjustments. When you ask questions about their disability, ask them what you need to do to enable them to do their work, rather than why the disability stops them doing it.

And on the issue of race, the key problem here is stereotyping people. This kind of discrimination includes ethnic background as well as the country the candidate was born in.

As a general rule don’t ask any question unless it will help you make a decision on employing this person. But it’s against the law to ask a discriminatory question – so don’t.

Something else to be aware of at interview is over promising. If you agree to all sorts of benefits without realising the cost to your business, your new employee will be able to hold you to that. They are also entitled to the job if it is verbally offered to them and accepted – even if the paperwork hasn’t been signed.

Why not try our guide to recruitment and interviewing.

Right to Employment

When you have found the right person, you need to check they have a legal right to work in the UK. Anyone born here or within the EU will have that right automatically, but it is worth checking anyway. It would also be worth doing a criminal records check on anyone that will be working with children or in a position of trust.

Statement of Employment

Your new employee is now entitled to a written statement of employment within their first two months. This sets out the facts of their job such as their salary, hours of work and holiday entitlement. It also clarifies the business’s policies on sick leave and the disciplinary and grievance procedure.

Tax Responsibilities

And when you process their pay, don’t forget that it is your responsibility as the employer to ensure that Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance deductions are correctly made, as well as any student loan payments.

Further Resources

Overall, don’t let all these employment laws worry you or put you off taking on staff. Use your common sense and you will be OK. We'd recommend browsing through our other guides to employing people on Bytestart.

Directgov has a very comprehensive guide aimed at employees, which is actually very handy for you as an employer.

It would also be worth you finding a cheap source of expert legal help. Your local Chamber of Commerce might have a free legal helpline for members. There’s certainly one available when you join the Federation of Small Businesses.:

You should always seek professional advice from a qualified person before taking on employees. Don’t rely purely on information contained in this article.