Discrimination in a Recruitment Process
An Employment Tribunal has held that an NHS Trust discriminated on the grounds of age and sex when they failed to appoint a middle aged man who had performed best at an interview.
Clements v Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Mr Clements, a 50 year old man, had applied for a project manager role at the Trust which involved developing new IT systems and processes within a scheme known as Digital Health London Accelerator. All candidates selected for interview had to prepare a short presentation and were informed that points would be awarded for 'original, fun yet thoughtful and punchy presentations'.
Mr Clements had the highest scoring presentation, although another candidate (a younger female) came a close second.
Following the interview the candidates were introduced to members of the team they would be working with. The feedback about Mr Clements concentrated on how he was different to the outgoing post holder (another younger female) and that people might find it difficult to give instructions to a more mature person. The Tribunal heard evidence that the team members were predominantly female and younger than Mr Clements. It also heard evidence about the political and philosophical views of some of the team as portrayed on social media.
The Tribunal found that the feedback from the team, despite not being part of the formal interview process, was given considerable weight by the selection panel. The Tribunal found that the feedback process was not objective.
Following the feedback from the team, the selection panel selected the younger female candidate. This was communicated to Mr Clements in a call during which he was informed that:
- members of the team were uncomfortable asking him to do things given he had an 11-year-old daughter
- that the objective of the accelerator team was to encourage team members to develop their careers
- given Mr Clements maturity it was better to employ someone at an early stage of their career as they would then progress to develop their career over a longer period elsewhere in the NHS
Following the Tribunal's findings, it ordered the Trust to pay Mr Clements £5,969.86 by way of injury to feelings (including interest), along with compensation of £1,610.28 (including interest).
Best Practice and How We Can Help
It is important to remember that discrimination laws apply to job adverts and the recruitment process and that they protect all age groups and both genders.
In order to avoid allegations of discrimination, it is important that all candidates are given the same opportunities during interview and, so far as is possible, the whole selection process is objective, assessing relevant skills and experience rather than relying on who will 'fit in'.