Recruitment: rise in attempts to prove discriminatory policies

Large law firms that receive big numbers of job applications, as when hiring trainees, must ensure their recruitment procedures protect them against the rise of 'serial saboteur' applicants, it was claimed last week.


According to Guy Guinan, a partner at the London office of Halliwells, such applicants make near-identical multiple applications for the same position in an attempt to prove that an employer discriminates against applicants of a particular race, gender or disability.


If there is different treatment, they then attempt to claim compensation for the discrimination and the employer has to justify its actions. This becomes especially difficult if the employer has no contemporaneous written evidence of the reason for the decision made for each application.


Mr Guinan said: 'As society has become more litigious, we have seen the threat of serial saboteur applicants increase. These individuals are likely to be encouraged further by the increase in awards paid out by employment tribunals.


'Most firms that become embroiled in this trap will agree a financial settlement with the individual outside of an employment tribunal, allowing him or her to remain anonymous and strike again.'


Mr Guinan said that law firms are as vulnerable as any other employer and procedures need to be particularly robust when large numbers of applications are involved. The risk is likely to increase next year when age discrimination legislation comes into force, he added. 'If employers request a date of birth or age, they then risk receiving multiple applications displaying different ages to test their policies.'