Posted: Wednesday 3 March 2010
New Laws Prohibiting Blacklisting Now In Force
Following up from my previous blog, DBIS announced yesterday that The Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 have come into force. As you will remember, the Government acted following reports late last year that certain elements of the building industry were keeping “blacklists” of prominent union members and denying them employment for this reason. To prevent this practice, the Government have introduced specific provisions prohibiting certain practices.
DBIS produced useful guidance and while blacklisting is not a criminal offence, there are potentially severe penalties under Data Protection laws. Since yesterday, the Employment Tribunal is also able to provide a further remedy and order compensation to be paid, ranging from £5,000 to £65,300.
