Bosses in England and Wales are making illegal criminal record checks on staff, learning about spent convictions that should not be disclosed. Sensitive work, such as with children or vulnerable adults, is eligible for Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks. But BBC Radio 4’s Face the Facts has found requests to CRB for jobs such as train driver, gardener and bricklayer. CRB says employers know best whether a check is necessary, but charity Nacro says CRB should monitor applications. The Criminal Records Bureau argues employers are best placed to know whether a check is necessary. But the crime reduction charity Nacro believes the CRB should be monitoring the applications it receives to ensure it grants only lawful requests for information. Ok get that? The CRB are just handing out...

The BBC has reported that Employers have begun a blacklist of “bad” employees who have been dismissed or those who have left before disciplinary proceedings can be commenced. To critics it sounds like a scenario from some Orwellian nightmare. An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees. But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live.Harrods and Selfridges are among two of Britain's best known high street businesses to have signed up to a controversial database for blacklisted staff that could affect the careers of three million workers. Under the privately run scheme, the names...

I previously blogged about the National Staff Dismissal Register, an initiative that should now be live. Today we received our answer on the role the government is playing in this scheme. The register is, An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees. Having never done anything wrong you could find yourself denied a future employment opportunity, because of the actions of a vindictive past employer. Such an employer would play the part of prosecutor, judge and jury in deciding your future, completely bypassing the legal system and with the bar set so high for prosecution under the Defamation Act 1996, it is not improbable that this bypassing will be...

But if you really cannot control yourself, be braced for your debut on yet another database, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR), following the recent unveiling of plans by UK retailers to jointly record the personal details of everyone dismissed over suspicion of theft or fraud. Neither theft nor fraud are hobbies to be encouraged, in fact they should be stamped on with all the force the law can provide.  But, as far as I can remember, the law is something agreed on by elected members of Parliament, implemented by various agencies of the state (in this case the police) and then rounded off nicely by those learned chaps in wigs.  Nowhere in the raft of phenomena that makes up our constitution, I humbly beg to suggest, does the law require private companies to do their bit. You...

The new National Staff Dismissal Register is a web site that is about to be launched to enable employers to name and shame, or possibly frame and shame ex-employees. It aims to create a blacklist of potential workers that employers should avoid going well beyond the concrete facts that the Criminal Records Bureau might provide.This site cannot be allowed to go ahead. Employers can take against employees for a whole number of reasons. Whilst some are legitimate there are a whole raft of others that are not. An employer may dislike someone because they refuse to work unpaid overtime, for being an effective trade unionist or because they are gay. An employer may resent someone who objects to being bullied and knows their legal rights, who holds different political views to them or who is...

BBC Jon Kelly- Workers accused of theft or damage could soon find themselves blacklisted on a register to be shared among employers. It will be good for profits but campaigners say innocent people could find it impossible to get another job. An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty, regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which bosses can access when vetting potential employees. But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live. Organisers say that major companies including Harrods, Selfridges and Reed Managed Services have already signed up to the scheme. By the end of May they will be able to check whether candidates for jobs have faced allegations of stealing, forgery, fraud,...

Tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. So we were told by Tony Blair. The Labour government, of course, would never admit that one of the causes of crime, is the criminalisation of innocent people due to overzealous legislation. Such zeal was revealed by Nick Clegg, to be a new criminal offence every day since New Labour came to power, standing at around 3,000 in 2006 (backed up by Channel 4's fact checker). In that year the Independent reported that, It is now illegal to sell grey squirrels, impersonate a traffic warden or offer Air Traffic Control services without a licence. Creating a nuclear explosion was outlawed in 1998. Householders who fail to nominate a neighbour to turn off their alarm while they are away from home can be breaking the law. And it is an offence...

Staff accused of theft or damage at their workplace are to be named and shamed on a new database which is due to be launched later this month. It could mean they find it impossible to find future employment. What is shocking about this is that they can be named and shamed regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime –and bosses can access it when vetting potential employees. It is an Orwellian nightmare which has been dreamt up by the National Staff Dismissal Register and companies that have signed up include Harrods, Selfridges, Reed Managed Services and Mothercare. By the end of May they will be able to check whether job applicants have faced allegations of stealing, forgery, fraud, damaging company property or causing a loss to their employers and suppliers. Trade...