The first employment tribunal ruling on positive action poses problems for employers, says Paul McFarlane
- Interpreting positive action provisions.
- Who is best placed to decide who is, and who is not, qualified to perform a role?
In the first decided case on the use of positive action provisions under s 159 Equality Act 2010, an employment tribunal has unanimously found that a police force’s recruitment process directly discriminated against a white, heterosexual, male applicant.
The claimant Mr Furlong, a white heterosexual male without a disability, applied for a position as a Police Constable in the 2017–18 recruitment process with the respondent, Cheshire Constabulary.
The recruitment process comprised three stages; an application form to check candidate eligibility; a ‘sift’ stage comprising a competency interview and various written and interactive exercises; and, finally, an interview stage for all candidates who had successfully passed the ‘sift’. In 2017–18, a large cohort of 127 candidates progressed to interview. At this final stage, the respondent applied ‘positive action’ appointing first any candidates
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