>Chris is a partner in the Employment Law Group of the Arthur Cox Belfast Office in Northern Ireland.
Chris has extensive experience dealing with both contentious and non-contentious employment law matters. Chris advises a range of employers on all aspects of employment law including executive appointments, severance, grievances, disciplinary issues and trade union matters. Chris has represented clients before the Industrial Tribunal, Fair Employment Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland in employment litigation such as unfair dismissal, equality/discrimination and whistleblowing. Chris’ practice area includes advisory work and corporate transactions.
Whilst businesses may approach the recruitment of individuals with a criminal record with reluctance, it is important that employers treat such applicants fairly regardless of their previous criminal convictions. The Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 seeks to promote the rehabilitation of re-offenders by encouraging their active participation in the job market and ensuring that ex-offenders who have not committed any further offences for specified periods following the date of their previous conviction will not be discriminated against when applying for jobs.
In any event, employers are not entitled to request that a prospective applicant discloses any prior convictions at the outset of a recruitment process. In fact, such information shall only become relevant to the employer once the individual has been successfully selected for their role (with the exception of recruitment for jobs such as medical practitioners, dentists, nurses, barristers and solicitors which require pre-employment background checks under the requirements of the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Exceptions) Order (Northern Ireland) 1979).
It is advisable for employers to implement internal policies to govern the recruitment of ex-offenders, particularly when recruiting for roles which require an AccessNI check as part the recruitment process. Various levels of AccessNI checks are available, namely basic, standard and enhanced checks. The basic check is most commonly utilised, however certain roles may require more extensive searches such as the enhanced check which involves a review by the Disclosure and Barring Service to identify whether the applicant is regarded as being unsuitable for work with children and vulnerable adults. Should an applicant appear on the Disclosure and Barring Service’s list, it would illegal for an employer to hire them to carry out a regulated activity.
Within Northern Ireland, employers are advised to ignore any conflict-related conviction unless it is considered to be materially relevant to the job in question.
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