Is it acceptable to ask a potential employee their age?

Savvy_Sue

Our application form does not ask for a date of birth. We used to ask if people were over 18 and under 65, but we don't do that any more.

crisp, if your gf works for a chain which has a head office, I'd suggest she asks for some training in recruitment. If she's her own boss, she'll need to find some herself. And there are probably online information services she can sign up to which would help her keep on top of these things - I get lots directed at the charity sector but I am sure the same thing is there for small biz as well. Hopefully someone will suggest where from!

crispsandwich

Thanks for all the great replies. All very helpful .

I will suggest that she asks within the company for a bit of training. She's supposedly a 'trainee manager' but she's been given no training - she's just been left to recruit people and run the place. She seems to think this is OK. I'm sure it isn't but what do I know?

tinkerbel

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

I agree Juno as mine starts J and as you well know I'm only 19 :rotfl: .

Me too! I'm only 19 and I'm deffo J

Zazen999

crispsandwich wrote: »

Thanks for all the great replies. All very helpful .

I will suggest that she asks within the company for a bit of training. She's supposedly a 'trainee manager' but she's been given no training - she's just been left to recruit people and run the place. She seems to think this is OK. I'm sure it isn't but what do I know?

Definitely. There is a huge leap from doer to manager and she needs to be aware of her legal undertakings as well as the best ways of doing things. Alot of companies won't let you recruit until you've had training; if the company aren't insisting on this then that's bad news. If she's left alone to run the place with no training, then if things did go wrong she might well be left to sort it out herself; and that's definitely not a good thing.

Mark7799

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

My NI number starts with a Y.........

You're old:D (late 40's or 50's???)

surreysaver

therealdessie wrote: »

I've been asked both my age and my marital status before.

Asking marital status is illegal.

surreysaver

The best answer is probably to state in job adverts and on application forms 'over 18's only due to health and safety / whatever laws'. And not do interviews/applications over the phone as there will be no paper trail. Anyone under 18 who applies is then their own problem for wasting their time as they would have already been told over 18's only.

hellokitty08

She needs to make ACAS her bible! www.acas.org.uk I work in recruitment and have attended the ACAS training on the age regulations. Insurance is not a justified reason for asking applicants there age. Health and Safety is, Legal requirements are e.g serving alcoholo, the working time regulations, genuine occupational qualiffications. check out ACAS for a leaflet.

cazziebo

Agree with hellokitty. ACAS run very reasonably priced courses around the country on a number of issues and they are well worth attending. Their website is a great reference site.

Recruitment is a minefield. We had one case where a recruiter was interviewing a pregnant candidate and said "I'm not sure we can hire anyone that's pregnant". Said with the best of intentions but made front page news and the candidate got an out of court settlement of £30k plus. Not sure where the recruiter is now, but was it her fault she hadn't had the training? She was the victim. The company carry the liability, but find their scapegoat somewhere - don't let it be your GF.

Savvy_Sue

There's a part of me which has some sympathy with that recruiter who hadn't been trained, BUT it astonishes me that in this day and age people aren't aware through news items etc that there is legislation in place. Even if you don't know the detail BEFORE you start recruiting, surely you'd look into it then?