Employers are told to act positively on jobs

Important provisions for the promotion of positive action are included in the forthcoming Equality Bill, delegates at an conference run by the Equality and Human Rights Commission were told recently.

The introduction of positive action will give employers the ability to recruit people who are currently under-represented in their organisation when faced with choosing between two equally qualified candidates.

Speaking in favour of positive action were the Commission’s chair Trevor Phillips and Vera Baird, the government’s solicitor general. They told employers from the public and private sectors what “positive action” would mean for their businesses, and how it should not be confused with positive discrimination which will remain illegal.

Positive action will be lawful as the relevant candidates will have been through a proper selection process and judged to be equal according to an assessment of their abilities, skills, experience and personal circumstances. Each candidate’s skills, qualifications and aptitude would therefore continue to be the most important factors in deciding who gets a job.

Positive discrimination — where applicants from some groups receive preferential treatment in the recruitment process — will however remain unlawful. The only legal exception, which will stay unchanged, is if the job needs to be done by people of a specific race, gender, age, religion or sexual orientation. This is known in law as an “occupational requirement”.

Phillips said employers have a simple choice: keep up or get left behind.