Discussion
I given a friend tips of circumnavigating sex/age discimination laws by asking prospective Employees to provide a photo on their c.v's . He wants to employ a 20ish female office worker, how do you ask about if they are likely to be pushing a pram in the future or other tips. Also is it possible to just employ on Annual contracts ?
Edited by sussexjob on Thursday 20th January 21:08
I would love to know the thought processes that came up with the idea that a photo circumvents any sex/age discrimination laws.
Hiring a woman in her mid-twenties will always have the attendant risk of her getting pregnant. Some would reason that this is precludes any women of child bearing age from being a suitable employee. Many successful companies don't share that sentiment though. Asking prospective employees if they want kids is a no-go area and useless if you were able to as them. What do you do if someone says "no" and they get pregnant accidentally?
Rolling fixed-term contracts won't work as pregnancy or maternity as a reason to not renew a fixed will get your mate in all kinds of potential grief. Making the role easily replaceable will help mitigate the risk of maternity leave, as will ensuring that the maternity leave is stingy and gives the bare minimum (and don't forget that in April Additional Paternity Leave comes into force). It's unlikely a female employee looking for a free ride will stay around for long if she will only get SMP.
Hiring a woman in her mid-twenties will always have the attendant risk of her getting pregnant. Some would reason that this is precludes any women of child bearing age from being a suitable employee. Many successful companies don't share that sentiment though. Asking prospective employees if they want kids is a no-go area and useless if you were able to as them. What do you do if someone says "no" and they get pregnant accidentally?
Rolling fixed-term contracts won't work as pregnancy or maternity as a reason to not renew a fixed will get your mate in all kinds of potential grief. Making the role easily replaceable will help mitigate the risk of maternity leave, as will ensuring that the maternity leave is stingy and gives the bare minimum (and don't forget that in April Additional Paternity Leave comes into force). It's unlikely a female employee looking for a free ride will stay around for long if she will only get SMP.
sussexjob said:
I given a friend tips of circumnavigating sex/age discimination laws by asking prospective Employees to provide a photo on their c.v's . He wants to employ a 20ish female office worker, how do you ask about if they are likely to be pushing a pram in the future or other tips. Also is it possible to just employ on Annual contracts ?
With regard to annual contracts, you can only do this for 4 consequetive years anyway until they become automatically permanent. Even if you do this, after the first year they have full employment rights anyway so dont get caught on that one!With regards to sex/age discrimination, even if you ask for a picture, you will still have to interview a number of non 20ish females or you will automatically open yourself up to a case of discrimination that is much easier to prove.
You can try asking where they see themselves in x number of years to see if career or family are the priority, but who is going to say "well I plan to work for you for a 6 months, then when I get my full entitlements I shall be on maternity leave for the next 3 years"
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