Employment Screening and Non-Conviction Information - A Human Rights Perspective (Hardcover, 1st ed. 2019)

Reviews

"My review" by Phillip T. - 17 June 2020

“WHERE THE MALICIOUS SUCCEED”: A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT OF NON-CONVICTION INFORMATION DISCLOSURE An appreciation by Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers and Phillip Taylor MBE, Head of Chambers, Reviews Editor, “The Barrister”, and Mediator A great book reviewing how non-disclosure information is used. Terry Thomas and Kevin Bennett outline the development of the current systems of disclosure of both criminal records and ‘non-disclosure information’ held by the police to employers. It shows how the two systems of information run side by side giving the subject matter a useful human rights perspective in just over 150 pages. “Employment Screening and Non-Conviction Information” from publishers, Palgrave Macmillan, offers the job applicant “a critical overview of the policy frameworks underpinning the contemporary practices of non-conviction information disclosure during pre-employment ‘screening’”. The authors give us a useful short guide into this employment minefield as the supposed “right to silence” continues to be eroded. The authors question how a man or woman can walk free from a criminal court as “an innocent person” only to have all the court details of his or her acquittal passed to any potential employer as “disclosure”. The book explains the current policy which means that no-one leaves the court today “without a stain on his or her character” because the damage has already been done with the launch of the proceeding. And it is a charter to encourage those making more vindictive and unfounded allegations from benefiting in kind from the hurt inflicted on the innocent even if proceedings are not started but mere rumour persists. Thomas and Bennett write that “despite several million ‘enhanced’ criminal background checks being performed each year, there has been little discussion of these issues within academic literature”. Until now- we wish we had had this book some years ago for the Bar examinations! Sadly, the subject of “non-conviction information”, sometimes called “police intelligence”, has been with us for a very long time because it is the beginning of the criminal process to detect crime successfully so a balance has to be set. Unfortunately, this “less well-known check” is frequently offered alongside the criminal record check notwithstanding the safety mechanism of a human right safeguard which barely exists for the hapless job seeker who usually fails in the job search as a result. What we are given here is a modern definition of what is interpreted as “non-conviction information” for those who do not know what it is. The authors present us with “a clear and simple explanation of how this decision-making process of police disclosure to employers is made” and should be read by all job seekers, and those concerned about their reputation. In addition, the extent to which these practices have been subjected to legal challenges within the UK are well covered, as is the issue of how public protection can be balanced against individual rights. Sadly, it remains our view that public protection heavily outweighs the rights of the individual so this book is a “must” as guidance where the job seeker is adversely prejudiced by unproven and often malicious information with defamation proceedings well outside the financial circumstances of all most everybody- the malicious succeed. Thank you, Terry and Kevin for an excellent new book in this difficult area of human right law. The publication date of this hardback edition is cited as at 14th September 2019.