The latest on a long-running issue – how or whether to put together and use databases to check on staff who are guilty of wrongdoing yet not with a criminal record.
On the one hand, employers point to workers simply being dismissed from previous employers for theft or other wrongdoing, rather than getting any caution or conviction under the criminal justice system. That means that according to a criminal record check, the employee is ‘clean’. <br><br>On the other hand, unions and others deplore such a list, arguing that people on the list have no comeback. A shopworkers’ union Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is welcoming moves towards making the blacklisting of employees for trade union activities illegal.<br><br>The Government has launched a six-week consultation into the practice of creating or using blacklists, which companies sometimes use to sack or not employ people in the first place for reasons that can be as innocent as belonging to a union.<br><br>The Union is already campaigning with the Government against the use of the National Staff Dismissal Register, run by a group called Action Against Business Crime. This blacklist includes details of shopworkers who have been dismissed or left their company for a range of acts including theft or damage, whether they were guilty or not.<br><br>John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary, said:<br><br>“No blacklist should be lawful, whether it identifies workers for their trade union activities or is based on conjecture about the honesty of individual employees.<br><br>“There is already a Criminal Records Bureau, which employers can check to ensure they are making safe appointments. The blacklisting of individuals where there has not been a prosecution is grossly unfair; particularly as the individual is rarely aware they have been blacklisted.<br><br>“We live in a country where you are innocent until proven guilty. That is a point we will be making very strongly to Government in our response to the consultation.”<br><br>Briefly, the Department for Business proposes to introduce regulations to outlaw ‘compilation, dissemination and use of trade union blacklists’.<br><br>However, as the consultation document says, some of the lists held by TCA – uncovered earlier this year which led to the proposed change – were not about trade union organisers but ‘trouble makers’ who were allegedly poor workers, or complaining about poor health and safety, or guilty of violence against colleagues. Briefly, TCA (The Consulting Association) served building companies to appraise the suitability for employment of people.<br><br>On the general matter of checking someone’s background, according to the Government, good employers have nothing to fear: "If employers need to vet prospective employees about their capabilities or fitness for employment, that should be done in the normal way through testimonials and systems which openly, lawfully and fairly checks the records of job applicants." However there is a grey area – the whistle-blower – what is the difference between someone who speaks up about abuse in the workplace – over unsafe workplaces say – and someone who blows the whistle over management fraud? and is blacklisted as a ‘troublemaker’?<br><br>As the document (http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file51729.pdf) says, under the Data Protection Act 1998 anyone has the right to look at their data – but as the document admits, blacklists are covert.<br><br>The consultation runs from July 7 to August 18. Launching the six-week consultation, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said: “Blacklisting someone because they are a member of a trade union is totally unacceptable."
In March the Information Commissioner reported that 40 construction companies had subscribed to a database used to vet thousands of construction workers, which has now been closed under data protection law. On 27 May, Mr Ian Kerr, the man who ran the database, pleaded guilty at Macclesfield Magistrates Court of committing a criminal offence under data protection law. He will be sentenced in due course.
