discrimination trained v untrained

[sheila2155]

if jobs in hospitals are being given exclusively to newly qualified personnel with qualified staff working on the department on temporary (9 month) contracts not being able to sit interviews for the vacancies does this count as discrimiatory behaviour on the part of the nhs trust involved? Any ideas please

[andrea81]

I would have thought that if a job opportunity was open and was being advertised, anyone can apply and be given an interview is suitable? How was the jobs advertised?

[sheila2155]

apparently there was a big recruitment drive 2 months earlier. I wasn't informed of this by the ward manager although she knew about it and i didn't see it advertised. I'm presuming it was posted in universities.

[froggequene]

A manager should tell you out of courtesy but that doesn't mean they have to flag it up to every single member of staff, news of new jobs usually filters down through the office grape vine as well

Would you gain any advantage by leaving your current position & taking up a temporary role?

Have you been able to see the job criteria? Do you know of anyone employed alongside you currently who has applied for this position & been put forward to interview?

You should be able to ask where it was advertised, the Guardian carries a lot of public service jobs & there is a dedicated website www.jobsgopublic.com.

If you're a member of a union, have a word with your shop steward but if the deadline has come & gone and you haven't been able to make an application simply because you didn't know, do you want them to bend the rules for you?

[Buenchico]

The first thing to make clear is that employment discrimination, per se, is not illegal. It's only specific types of discrimination which are illegal.

For example, I used to work in a school where the headteacher's policy was that he'd never promote anyone internally. He's always bring someone in from outside, even if the best teacher in the country was already working on his staff. That was his publicly stated policy (because he believed that no teacher should remain in the same school for more than a few years). It was discriminatory but perfectly legal.

Any employer can choose whether to advertise a job internally, externally or not at all (and simply give the job to whoever he likes). There are a few restrictions on his actions in the case of a limited company (where he must put the shareholder's interests first) or where public money is involved, as in the case of the NHS, where it's the public purse which should come first (ahead of the interests of existing employees). It would seem that the employer may well be seeking to meet a duty to get maximum 'value for money'.

The actions are certainly discriminatory but almost certainly not illegal. The reason I find it necessary to add a note of uncertainty, through my use of 'almost', is that there's a possibility that this practice might be regarded as indirect age discrimination which, of course, is illegal. (i.e. by making posts available to newly qualified personnel, they're effectively only offering most of the posts to younger health professionals).

To check whether this amounts to age discrimination, phone the Equality & Human Rights Commission helpline on 0845 604 6610.

Chris

[meltoadhall]

as someone who has a job as a newly qualified, all our jobs were just for the newly qualifieds who trained there.
In our trust it is policy to do this and there are other jobs available within the internal job vacancy lists.

I suggest you take it up with HR

[sheila2155]

thanks everyone. to meltoadhall, the jobs were all held back for newly qualified's because of a government initiative. i've never had a permanent staff nurse job because the jobs have either been frozen as in 2006 or held back for NQ's. i believe it was discriminatory - but hey ho that's the nhs for you!