Reasons for job refusal can remain confidential

A black police officer has been told by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) that she was not entitled to know why she had been turned down for a new job, or even why she was not entitled to know.

PC Barracks was invited to apply for the post of field intelligence officer with the Operation Trident Shootings Desk, a special Metropolitan Police unit set up to reduce the number of shootings and gun-related murders in London's black communities.

All applicants had to be vetted for security clearance, and Barracks was told that she could not be selected because of the results of the check. A white officer was selected for the job.

Barracks claimed race discrimination, and asked as part of her claim that the police disclose the reasons for the refusal of security clearance. They refused, stating that they were prohibited by law from doing so - and were also prohibited from telling her which law it was that they were relying on.

After hearing evidence in private from the police, the EAT judge held that they were indeed unable to disclose either the information requested or the law that prohibited its disclosure.

Barracks could proceed to a hearing of her race discrimination claim, but without this information.

Chief Superintendent John Coles & another v Barracks UKEAT/0394/05