Abdulalah Al-Jobore
Unit 13 - Recruitment and Selection in Business
P2
P2 Explain the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on recruitment and selection
activities
Once a business starting looking for a new staff to employee and aims to plan for the recruitment
and selection process, then it important and essential for any business to be aware of the specific
legislation that they need to comply with. There are many laws and regulation that that has been
issued by the UK parliament in corporation with the EU legislation to make the sure that the
recruitment and selection process is as fair as it should be for everyone who is looking for a job.
Current UK and EU legislation
In term of legislation and regulatory that are established within the UK, there two key area of
legislation that UK is government by: first, the laws passed by the UK parliament, and second, the
laws passed within the European Union. Although at the moment, in 2019 there are some concerns
about Brexit ( UK leaving the EU), however the UK still part of the European Union which is a political
and economic union of 28 members of countries that are located primarily in Europe. Therefore,
this union helps them to become integrated as a one big country as well as having the European
Single Market. The European single market refers to one of the most important features of the
European Union, which it means the free movement of goods, services, money and individuals
between EU countries without restrictions. EU member states participate in a set of laws, right and
duties and are established by the EU Parliament, and these legislations will have important impacts
on all the business within the states of EU.
In relation to the recruitment and selection process, there are specific legislation that are brought
into the force by the UK and EU parliaments such as Equal Pay Directive (75/117) that both Trafford
College and Tesco need be aware of, as the law is changing all the time.
Sex Discrimination Act 1995/97
This Act refers to the legislation that was primarily issued to stop discrimination against men and
women on the basis of their gender to ensure that both of men and women are treated equally. It
has been produced by the Labour government in 1975, which aims to provide the protection for
men and women from discrimination on their ground of sex or marital status. Therefore, this act
cover most aspects of people life including, employment, training and education, the provision of
goods services, harassment etc.
It is important for both Trafford College and Tesco to comply with the this act when they are dealing
with the recruitment and selection process, as they have to make sure that when they are
advertising for a job or even within the job they are not discriminating the candidate or the
employee against on the basis of their gender. As for example, a direct discrimination does not
allowing these businesses to give the job opportunity to a less qualified man over a more qualified
woman. However, in some cases, jobs does not necessarily have to comply with the Sex
discrimination, and this is usually known as an occupational requirement and does not count as
discrimination. An example of this is, when a company employ only women for a job as a counsellor
in a women’s refuge. Therefore the employer have the right to argue that as their customers are all
women who might have experienced domestic violence by men, which means they are likely to talk
to another woman about it, rather than a man.
According to The Guardian, in 2016, Tesco workers have been discriminated against their age and
gender which therefore take their claim to court. The 17 workers who all joined the company before
1999 are taking the company to court after they receive a cut pay rates for night, weekend and bank
1
Unit 13 - Recruitment and Selection in Business
P2
P2 Explain the impact of the legal and regulatory framework on recruitment and selection
activities
Once a business starting looking for a new staff to employee and aims to plan for the recruitment
and selection process, then it important and essential for any business to be aware of the specific
legislation that they need to comply with. There are many laws and regulation that that has been
issued by the UK parliament in corporation with the EU legislation to make the sure that the
recruitment and selection process is as fair as it should be for everyone who is looking for a job.
Current UK and EU legislation
In term of legislation and regulatory that are established within the UK, there two key area of
legislation that UK is government by: first, the laws passed by the UK parliament, and second, the
laws passed within the European Union. Although at the moment, in 2019 there are some concerns
about Brexit ( UK leaving the EU), however the UK still part of the European Union which is a political
and economic union of 28 members of countries that are located primarily in Europe. Therefore,
this union helps them to become integrated as a one big country as well as having the European
Single Market. The European single market refers to one of the most important features of the
European Union, which it means the free movement of goods, services, money and individuals
between EU countries without restrictions. EU member states participate in a set of laws, right and
duties and are established by the EU Parliament, and these legislations will have important impacts
on all the business within the states of EU.
In relation to the recruitment and selection process, there are specific legislation that are brought
into the force by the UK and EU parliaments such as Equal Pay Directive (75/117) that both Trafford
College and Tesco need be aware of, as the law is changing all the time.
Sex Discrimination Act 1995/97
This Act refers to the legislation that was primarily issued to stop discrimination against men and
women on the basis of their gender to ensure that both of men and women are treated equally. It
has been produced by the Labour government in 1975, which aims to provide the protection for
men and women from discrimination on their ground of sex or marital status. Therefore, this act
cover most aspects of people life including, employment, training and education, the provision of
goods services, harassment etc.
It is important for both Trafford College and Tesco to comply with the this act when they are dealing
with the recruitment and selection process, as they have to make sure that when they are
advertising for a job or even within the job they are not discriminating the candidate or the
employee against on the basis of their gender. As for example, a direct discrimination does not
allowing these businesses to give the job opportunity to a less qualified man over a more qualified
woman. However, in some cases, jobs does not necessarily have to comply with the Sex
discrimination, and this is usually known as an occupational requirement and does not count as
discrimination. An example of this is, when a company employ only women for a job as a counsellor
in a women’s refuge. Therefore the employer have the right to argue that as their customers are all
women who might have experienced domestic violence by men, which means they are likely to talk
to another woman about it, rather than a man.
According to The Guardian, in 2016, Tesco workers have been discriminated against their age and
gender which therefore take their claim to court. The 17 workers who all joined the company before
1999 are taking the company to court after they receive a cut pay rates for night, weekend and bank
1
