Blacklisted staff?

[Russ B]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7389547.stm

Anyone else think this is potentially dangerous and open to misuse, as well as morally wrong?

[Xaccers]

Yes.
Wouldn't it breach the DPA too?

[punky]

Originally Posted by Russ B

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7389547.stm

Anyone else think this is potentially dangerous and open to misuse, as well as morally wrong?

Yes and yes. Whilst providing references there are all kinds of rules that employers have to abide by so as not to prejudice employers against someone making them unemployable. This new register flies in the face of all that.

Also, IANAL but there is something called the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which limits the emphasis people can put on a person's criminal past. If that applies to proven crimes surely it must apply to non-proven ones too?

The CRB does its job (slowly, but it does it). If someone is steal them report them to the police and let the CRB handle them.

---------- Post added at 16:38 ---------- Previous post was at 16:31 ----------

Also i'd argue if an accusation of a crime is unproven, then its presence on the register would also constitute libel?

[joglynne]

I find it very worrying that there seems to be no safeguards in place.

If you were to be refused employment purely on the basis of the information on this register you would possibly never know. There should be a legal requirement to inform you if information is used in this way so that you could challenge its validity.

This register goes against the basic concept of innocent until proved guilty, and to me just seems to be a short cut by cost cutting employers who for one reason or another either don't give truthful references or don't do proper reference checks.

[RizzyKing]

What is new about this sorry but in my small little town employers have always had an agreement to pass on the names of people that did something or other. There is nothing new here and i suspect this has been an unofficial practice in most areas of the UK.

[Enuff]

WHAT WILL GET YOU ON IT
1. Theft or attempted theft of money, merchandise or property from company, suppliers or customers
2. Falsification or forgery of documents
3. Fraudulently obtaining money, services or information
4. Damaging company property

I hope that No.2 doesn't include falsifying your CV! Almost everyone would be on the database.

[WHISTLED]

CIFAS already have a register for fraudsters

http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=718-87

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

CIFAS already have a register for fraudsters

http://www.cifas.org.uk/default.asp?edit_id=718-87

At least CIFAS acknowledges that :-

*
Information must be factual and accurate.
*
The CIFAS Member must have sufficient clear evidence of wrongdoing to have reasonable grounds to press criminal charges if a suspect was traced.
*
The CIFAS Member must be willing to make a full report to the police.
*
The criminal offence must be identifiable.

Whereas the NSDR use the criterium :-

Workers sacked for these offences will be included on the register, regardless of whether police had enough evidence to convict them. Also on the list will be employees who resigned before they could face disciplinary proceedings at work.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Gavin

Also i'd argue if an accusation of a crime is unproven, then its presence on the register would also constitute libel?

Mmmmm

But today a leading libel lawyer warned that the scheme to disseminate unproven allegations could prompt a flood of defamation claims against businesses.

[Wicked_and_Crazy]

Originally Posted by Xaccers

Yes.
Wouldn't it breach the DPA too?

i think you will find this will be classified as sensitive data and therefore different rules apply. Current examples are things like sexual orientation,political beliefs etc