Is this legal?

miduck

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

Must admit I have not seen it (and I am looking now) where it says in the Equality Act that you can advertise for disabled people only.

You might find that the law is not that specific, the rest is down to interpretation. However do keep reading, you might learn something ...

OneYorkshireLass

miduck wrote: »

If you think it is tough finding work at the moment, it is considerably worse for the disabled.

In 2011 the employment rate was 48.8% for disabled people compared to 77.5% for non-disabled people.

Source: Labour Force Survey 2011

MissSarah1972

miduck wrote: »

You might find that the law is not that specific, the rest is down to interpretation. However do keep reading, you might learn something ...

You said it was in the act as the OP has asked if they could advertise for a disabled person.

Maybe have a read of the thread you may learn what the question actually was.


I do not need to know anything about the equality act to be fair.

OneYorkshireLass

MissSarah1972 wrote: »

I do not need to know anything about the equality act to be fair.

To be fair I'd rather hear from someone who does know something.

No offence

MissSarah1972

OneYorkshireLass wrote: »

To be fair I'd rather hear from someone who does know something.

No offence

read the equality act then as you may learn something, no offence!

OneYorkshireLass

Interesting ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8153564.stm

earthbound_misfit

Just thinking... aren't there certain exceptions if you have a good reason for employing people from a certain group for specific roles? Eg. as has been mentioned, female workers in a women's refuge. I'm sure I read somewhere it's also ok to only employ a people of a certain race/background if it's in keeping with a restaurant too (ie. Italian people in an Italian restaurant) so the exceptions seem quite varied.
Perhaps if was a core element of the business to be run by disabled people that would count as a reasonable exception?
If it's not purely hypothetical, can I have a job please?!

dizzyrascal

I just wondered what would happen if you called it a social enterprise?
I know that Jamie Oliver did it with the restaurant 15.
He only took on young people who had troubled backgrounds and I think that is still the case now.
I think you can still be a business and make a profit but you are allowed to select staff based on specific criteria. You could perhaps specify that you want to employ local people in areas where there is a shortage of local jobs?
I'm sure you could apply this to disabled people because you would be creating a social benefit.
This could all be wrong but I would hope it would be the case. It would be nice to think so anyway.

dharm999

Why dont you contact your local Remploy adviser? Speak to him/her, and explain what you are looking for, in terms of skills/experience, etc,, and say you have no problems with employing disabled workers, if they have any that are on their books looking for work. You are not actively saying that you only want disabled workees, just that you are happy to consider them. By going to Remploy, I would have thought that the majority of people they put forward, will have a disabiity. With Remploy shutting factories all around the country, I would have thought that they will have lots of people that they are trying to find jobs for, They also work with ex forces personnel, another group of people who find it difficult to get work.

http://www.remploy.co.uk/contactus/recruitment-branches/leeds.ashx

Link to the Remploy Leeds office. Only useful, of course, if you decide to make your hypothetical situation a reality

gibson123

dizzyrascal wrote: »

I just wondered what would happen if you called it a social enterprise?
I know that Jamie Oliver did it with the restaurant 15.
He only took on young people who had troubled backgrounds and I think that is still the case now.
I think you can still be a business and make a profit but you are allowed to select staff based on specific criteria. You could perhaps specify that you want to employ local people in areas where there is a shortage of local jobs?
I'm sure you could apply this to disabled people because you would be creating a social benefit.
This could all be wrong but I would hope it would be the case. It would be nice to think so anyway.

Total minefield for employers.

Jamie Oliver gets away with it because it is run as a employment scheme, designed to get unemployed people back to work, these social enterprises or "Intermediate Labour Market" initiatives - Remploy being another can advertise for specific groups as their core purpose is supporting the clients therefore they are seen as providing a service to unemployed / disabled people. Most wages are considered as a "training allowance" rather than a wage, or a supported wage. They are "justified" in taking positive action. So if your firm is set up to help people with a disability get work, yes you can.

Employers however would find it very difficult to justify positive discriminate.