Just got refused a job because I'm British

archamedes

archamedes

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Dave
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Hey all,

Been looking for a job for a while now, I'm lucky if I ever get a reply from anyone anymore and even if its an email telling me I wasn't successful it is nice because at least I know where I stand and I can then move on. However I applied for one a few days ago with my CV included and today I had a reply saying that They could not continue with my application as they are only looking for non British EU applicants. I am understandibly fuming about this and we are all told we have to not be racist and accept this is a multi cultural Britian, but its getting very hard not to get annoyed when things like this happen. Now please I just hope that nobody thinks about writing the tired and overused sentence "stop reading the daily mail" I keep seeing on fourms a lot now, because this isn't something I have seen on the news or read in a paper, this has actually hasppened to me. Now is there a chance that I can seek legal action about racial descrimination? because I heard there is a rumor going around that it does work both ways. After all if it was an ethnic minority person applying and the employer said "sorry we are only looking for English people." there would be an absolute uproar.
 
I'm sure there will be all sorts of people along giving advice which, with the best of intentions, they believe to be correct however the only likely way to know for sure is to discuss it with a lawyer. I know there used to be plenty of firms that would give you their first af hour of time free by which time they could say if you had a case or not. Might be worth seeing if you can find one that'll do that in this case.
 
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My first thought, what was the job? If it was for (as an example) a native speaking Polish translator I could see the reason for it.

If it was as a sales assistant in Tesco I would agree with you.
 
Or have a word with the Citizens Advice Bureau. You could also phone the Sun newspaper as they like this type of story!
 
Dave1 said:
My first thought, what was the job? If it was for (as an example) a native speaking Polish translator I could see the reason for it.

If it was as a sales assistant in Tesco I would agree with you.
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Bad example :). A 'native speaking Polish translator' would have to demonstrate competence in the language they were translating to and therefore are regarded no differently than someone who learned Polish as a second (or even 3rd) language.
 
It was for a UK job doing administration work in an office of a plumbing store.
 
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Definitely illegal then by the sounds of it.

Is it advertised online so we can have a look at the advert?
 
Very few jobs would allow the employer to specify nationality. Your first point of call should be the Citizen's Advice Bureau who will give you reliable advice and tell you how best to proceed. I'd be very interested to read the job advert as well. Best of luck with it!
 
archamedes said:
However I applied for one a few days ago with my CV included and today I had a reply saying that They could not continue with my application as they are only looking for non British EU applicants.
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You have this in writing?

This could get interesting. There are very few exemptions to discrimination legislation, and I can't think of one relevant where non-UK citizenship would be acceptable or even relevant. I can't even think of a situation where it would be specifically beneficial to be a non-UK citizen.

Language skills I could understand as a criteria, even at a stretch cultural awareness. But neither of these are cictizenship dependent.

If the position was advertised through the Job Centre this could get very interesting indeed. Even if it's not. If you're currently claiming JSA or IS through the Job Centre I'd definitely be raising this with you adviser on your next signing-on appointment.
 
Alastair said:
If the position was advertised through the Job Centre this could get very interesting indeed. Even if it's not. If you're currently claiming JSA or IS through the Job Centre I'd definitely be raising this with you adviser on your next signing-on appointment.
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I would keep very quiet about it until you have proper legal advice.
Telling the Job Centre about it will raise eyebrows and cause the Company to apologise, explain that it was due to a clerical error and that of course they will consider you - although you still won't get the job. There will be no gain for you if this happens.

If, as appears likely, they have broken the law then you will be advised that you have recourse through the Employment Tribunal - which can net you a lot of money.
 
I think it has been said above that as an employer, there are very few grounds on which you can discriminate. It sounds wrong and I would definitely get some professional advice.

A
 
I've seen bumf/leaflets and read about companies have to employ staff so that have an ethnic diversity.

I am not sure what happens if a company notice that they staff are all british/white and employee someone, do they have to actively seek someone to meet their ethnic diversity need?

You see sites like this....

http://www.sfbn-equality-diversity.org.uk/meaning.html

But can you realistically do what has happened in this thread?
 
You don't have to be employed by an organisation to take them to an industrial tribunal. If you are unfairly treated during the recruitment process then you may have a claim against them. If you have that in writing then it would suggest that have quite a strong case.

Seek professional legal advice asap.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
I've seen bumf/leaflets and read about companies have to employ staff so that have an ethnic diversity.

I am not sure what happens if a company notice that they staff are all british/white and employee someone, do they have to actively seek someone to meet their ethnic diversity need?

You see sites like this....

http://www.sfbn-equality-diversity.org.uk/meaning.html

But can you realistically do what has happened in this thread?
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I am pretty sure that if, as an employer, you are positively discriminating to recruit for a position, that would have to be made very clear in a particularly well worded job advertisment

A
 
The place I applied for was up my industrial estate. They usually have a car boot sale round the corner every sunday. I saw the ad on the shop window as i usually park next to it when going to the boot sale. Its a plumbing & fitting place, not a franchise company such as B&Q. It just said on an yellow A4 sheet "admin staff needed" it had an email address and a telephone number. I only took the email address because I assumed it would be quicker than phoning up only to have to post off/recieve a form or be told to send a cv to the email provided. I saw the ad last sunday and the shop wasn't open because as i said it was a sunday so I just took the email address and didnt think anything of it.
 
Sounds like it could be a cash in hand job or sub-min wage, hence their desire for the non-UK applicant, who may be more inclined to keep quiet and accept the lower pay.
 
archamedes said:
The place I applied for was up my industrial estate. They usually have a car boot sale round the corner every sunday. I saw the ad on the shop window as i usually park next to it when going to the boot sale. Its a plumbing & fitting place, not a franchise company such as B&Q. It just said on an yellow A4 sheet "admin staff needed" it had an email address and a telephone number. I only took the email address because I assumed it would be quicker than phoning up only to have to post off/recieve a form or be told to send a cv to the email provided. I saw the ad last sunday and the shop wasn't open because as i said it was a sunday so I just took the email address and didnt think anything of it.
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Well, in that case ignore my previous advice. This clearly wasn't a proper job with a proper firm and you won't get any joy if you take them to an Employment Tribunal, they'll just disappear.

You could get your 15 minutes of fame by contacting the Daily Fail or The Sun, or you could just console yourself with the thought that even if you'd been offered the job you wouldn't want to work for a couple of £ an hour cash in hand and just move on...
 
Yeah I am now in the situation where its a case of find work or depression kicks in again. All the good jobs are gone or already have piles of CV's waiting to be dug through and my kids aren't going to fit in their clothes for too much longer. So its kind of desperate times equal desperate measures more in the sense I don't even care if the job is degrading and humiliating I sold my last amount of pride and self respect to pay for rent months ago.
 
Am pretty sure you cannot reject anybody due to their nationality - apart from a few very select positions of employment - and if they put it in B&W then they are stupid.

Quite often though a person will be rejected on grounds of x y or z but any head screwed on manager / HR dept would base the rejection on a valid and legal basis .. E.g. Boris had a more experienced background than you, or Natalia performed better at the interview.

Incidentally and a bit of a tenuous link, the guy who cuts my hair, brother in law owns an employment agency specialising in temp staff for facroties / industrial work. Quite a few of his clients (employers) ask / specify / request Polish / E European workers as they "work their arses off and are not afraid to get mucky, whereas the brits (as a whole) seem to think the world owes them a living."
 
Perhaps controversial but almost all our labourers are Polish and when you compare them to the Scottish labourers we used to have it's like night and day.

Even the very basic labourers are paid several pounds above min. wage, 42 days holiday per year, they now work under cover out of the weather and there's tons of overtime available for them. But this wasn't good enough for the Scots who did nothing but moan, whine, skive, get drunk, get stoned, steal and take excessive sick days. The Poles just come in and get on with it. So for us it's a no brainer that we offer jobs internally to their friends and relatives first rather than advertise nationally.

This company may have had the same experiences. It doesn't make it right and I know it's not what you want to hear but the Scots we used to employ shot themselves in the foot by thinking they were above things and now others suffer because of this, even those who just want to come in and get on with it.

It's a shame as I'd personally rather have a local workforce as I believe in helping the local community and we treat our staff very well but what with the powerful employee rights of today they most likely feel that they can't take any chances and be stuck with a bad workforce.
 
Maybe I should look for work in poland, I hear there are vacances everywhere out there
 
archamedes said:
Maybe I should look for work in poland, I hear there are vacances everywhere out there
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well i am about to go out there to set up a car washing empire, as my thinking is they are all over here doing it, so must be an opportunity there.
 
archamedes said:
Maybe I should look for work in poland, I hear there are vacances everywhere out there
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I think of all the cultures in europe, in my experience it is certainally very similar to ours. And if you like saussages, then you will definintely like it! They love their saussages, and do some amazing ones.
 
It seems very wrong that an employer could specify non- British. I hope you manage to get a job soon. You dont live in my area but hopefully any TPers in Hertfordshire will let you know if they hear of anything.
 
Lynton said:
well i am about to go out there to set up a car washing empire, as my thinking is they are all over here doing it, so must be an opportunity there.
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Will have to do that in iraq/iran etc by the ones taking over here.
 
AFAIK there are very few jobs that are exempt under the Race Discrimination Act. Specific outreach posts that are trying to work with ethnic groups etc. are about the only ones I can think of.
 
Lynton said:
well i am about to go out there to set up a car washing empire, as my thinking is they are all over here doing it, so must be an opportunity there.
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most of them are on the site where i am working at the moment
they pull up in there mercedes with polish plates on and no i kid you not
 
terryuk said:
they pull up in there mercedes with polish plates on and no i kid you not
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Polish plates? :shrug: I guess they would need somewhere to put their polish and cloths :thinking:
 
archamedes said:
Maybe I should look for work in poland, I hear there are vacances everywhere out there
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sorry thought this quote would have gone in as well
 
It may have already been suggested but have you asked them why?
 
gman said:
Perhaps controversial but almost all our labourers are Polish and when you compare them to the Scottish labourers we used to have it's like night and day.

Even the very basic labourers are paid several pounds above min. wage, 42 days holiday per year, they now work under cover out of the weather and there's tons of overtime available for them. But this wasn't good enough for the Scots who did nothing but moan, whine, skive, get drunk, get stoned, steal and take excessive sick days. The Poles just come in and get on with it. So for us it's a no brainer that we offer jobs internally to their friends and relatives first rather than advertise nationally.

This company may have had the same experiences. It doesn't make it right and I know it's not what you want to hear but the Scots we used to employ shot themselves in the foot by thinking they were above things and now others suffer because of this, even those who just want to come in and get on with it.

It's a shame as I'd personally rather have a local workforce as I believe in helping the local community and we treat our staff very well but what with the powerful employee rights of today they most likely feel that they can't take any chances and be stuck with a bad workforce.
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These pesky Scots are murder with their bad attitude.
 
My girlfriend got refused a job from Sainsbury's because she had dyed hair!!!
 
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