Take a look at this article from The Daily Telegraph.  A good idea in principle but I’m wondering about the Data Protection issues involved, as well as the subsequent satellite litigation that would undoubtedly result.  Does anyone remember the blacklist of “difficult” employees compiled by The Consulting Association (see my previous post on the subject here)?  Or the National Staff Dismissal Register (see here) ? 

I can accept that there is a world of difference between a register kept by employers and passed on to others to identify those employees who stand up for their rigths and those people who bring many different (and fabricated) claims – but how do you differentiate between the two in practice?  I suppose we should bear in mind Oscar Wilde’s aphorism (albeit paraphrased) “To have one Discrimination claim is unfortunate, to have 34 is downright suspicious”.  Preventing someone from asserting their legal rights is not something to be undertaken lightly. 

It’s interesting that the Employment Tribunal isn’t keen to get involved and I can see why.  These serial litigants might turn their hand to defamation or judicial review instead of discrimination claims. Tribunals are wary of awarding costs against litigants and they certainly aren’t going to relish banning individuals from bringing claims. Since 1993 they have had the power to make a “restriction of proceedings order”, but they are very rare.   The way forward is shown  by Her Majesty’s Courts Service, which runs all the civil and criminal courts (but not the Tribunals) in the country and which maintains a list of vexatious litigants on its website (www.hmcourtsservice.gov.uk).  However, the people listed on there will have been declared a vexatious litigant in proceedings and thus there has been a judicial finding.  If Mr Turner’s idea is to get off the ground (and it deserves to) he will need the ET to be more robust in making  “restriction of proceedings orders” and then publishing that list. 

Related posts:

1. How to Deter a Serial Litigant
2. Barrack Room Lawyers Beware

Serial Litigants beware! originally appeared on Jobsworth by Michael Scutt on 25/11/2009.

The recent uproar over the revelation that a company called The Consulting Association (TCA) maintained a blacklist of “problem” employees which it then passed on to construction companies, reminded me of the National Staff Dismissal Register set up in the retail industry last year and which I wrote about in these pages last October.  In that case Action Against Business Crime (AABC), a consortium formed between the Home Office (!!!)  and the British Retail Consortium, set up a scheme to share information between potential employers of details of employees dismissed for offences of dishonesty, but not convicted in the criminal courts of wrongdoing.  In other words if an employer dismissed an employee for theft or fraud they would then place that person’s details on the NSDR and thus make it much harder for them to get alternative work, at least within the retail sector.  At the time it was claimed that this didn’t breach the Data Protection Act (DPA), which claim I still find rather surprising.

What is so very different about TCA’s activities?   The Information Commissioner says that they have committed a serious breach of the DPA and could be prosecuted for failing to register itself as a data holder under the DPA.  The BBC reports that information passed on by TCA to its subscribers was highly prejudicial and personal, such as “Irish ex-Army, bad egg” and “ex-shop-steward, definite problems” and included people who had raised health and safety issues on construction sites and union membership.  These are all issues which are covered by legislation designed to protect workers.  For instance, if a worker is dismissed for belonging to a Union it will be an automatically unfair dismissal, as it will if someone is dismissed for raising health and safety issues.  Anti-discrimination laws prevent a person being discriminated against on grounds of nationality – and that covers recruitment of staff as well as not subjecting them to detriment when actually in employment.  What the TCA is alleged to have done is more extreme than the NSDR scheme, but the principal is the same – personal information is being disseminated about workers who have no knowledge of the disclosure or right of redress and without any safeguards in place on the accuracy of the information. These types of scheme need to be banned: they are a far more insidious threat to our personal liberty than the ubiquitous CCTV cameras that watch our movements wherever we go. 

“Usefully Employed” also posted an interesting piece on this very issue earlier this week – see the link to his blog on my blogroll.

This article will appear in the “Docklands” and “Peninsula” newspapers week commencing 16th March. 

No related posts.

A rant about Data Protection originally appeared on Jobsworth by Michael Scutt on 13/03/2009.

A rather alarming new initiative was reported last week: the creation of the National Staff Dismissal Register, by an organisation called Action Against Business Crime (AABC), a consortium formed between the Home office and the British Retail Consortium.  It is a database for employers to share details on those staff dismissed (but not necessarily convicted in the criminal courts) for offences of dishonesty; e.g. theft, forgery, damage to company property and so on. According to the AABC’s own press release the register seeks to create a central register to cover those employees not convicted or cautioned for criminal offences. It appears that it is aimed at the retail industry at the moment, although it will almost certainly spread if successful.  It will go live this month.  Apparently it is not in contravention of the Data Protection Act.

This strikes me as being a very dangerous development.  What safeguards are there for employees placed upon it?    It means that unscrupulous employers, or those with a grudge against a former employee could put an employee’s name on the register and effectively stop them getting work in the future.  What about the old adage of being innocent until proved guilty?  This scheme is aimed at those people who haven’t been cautioned or prosecuted and thus haven’t had the opportunity to defend themselves.  It must also raise issues under the Human Rights Act.  I don’t condone workplace crime by any means, but this intrusive scheme can’t be the right way to address the issue.

This post first appeared in the “Docklands” and “Peninsula” newspapers last October.

No related posts.

The National Staff Dismissal Register originally appeared on Jobsworth by Michael Scutt on 13/03/2009.