CALLING ALL
READERS
We want to hear your employment law
problems. Send us your dilemmas to
feature here next month.
Email: chris.beck@markallengroup.com
In the present case, it is
suggested to ensure that all
employees are fully appraised
of nut allergies, the potential
side-effects and the steps that
you, as a company, have taken
as part of a risk-based approach.
It should further be made clear
that, due to the seriousness of
the matter, any employee who
jeopardises the health and safety
of any employee by deliberately
disregarding the steps the
company has put in place to
protect against risk could face
disciplinary action.
Your messaging regarding
nut allergies and the obligations
on your employees to assist in
protecting against the risk posed
should be reinforced to your
employee who has expressed
the objection, including the
potential for disciplinary action
in the event of any failure to
comply. If the employee fails
to adhere to the steps put in
place, disciplinary action should
be taken, and an appropriate
sanction imposed. Depending
on the particular circumstances,
such sanction may be up to and
including dismissal.
I recently interviewed for a
new operations manager,
and found what seemed to be
the perfect candidate – she was
experienced, knowledgeable
and keen. Before offering her
the role, I followed up on a
few of her references, and a
few doubts have subsequently
arisen. In particular, a couple
of them mentioned her sloppy
timekeeping and tendency
to get flustered when under
stress. Other than those couple
of comments, her references
were positive, but can I refuse
someone a role based on
what were likely just some
throwaway remarks?
First of all you should be
reminded that none of us are
perfect! You will no doubt be
making the job conditional
upon the prospective employee
successfully completing a
probationary period, during
which you can see for yourself
whether this candidate is
suitable for the role – you can
monitor her timekeeping issues
and how she copes under stress.
Having said that, if you
have not made the job offer,
or you have made a job offer
subject to receipt of satisfactory
references and you perceive
that you have not received
satisfactory references, you
have the option of either not
offering this candidate the role
or withdrawing the job offer.
You must, however, consider
whether the referees in question
had a discriminatory motive
or were trying to victimise the
candidate when supplying you
with their comments. Reasons
for the poor timekeeping such
as childcare responsibilities or
any underlying medical issue
could potentially give rise to
additional legal protection for
the candidate. As such, you may
wish to re-approach the referees
and ask them more details about
the identified issues in order to
get a better understanding of
those comments before making
any final decision.
Facts:
Source: Allergy UK
Know your law...
The Disability
Discrimination
Act of 1995
makes it illegal for employers to
discriminate against any staff with a
disability, including those suffering
from an allergy that affects them
‘more than trivially’ in everyday life
44%
of the UK population
suffer from at least
one allergy
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk 13
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
link