The Commission welcomes Sigmar Recruitment’s and Staffline Recruitment’s agreement to undertake equality reviews
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (the ‘Commission’) announced today that it has used its legal powers, under Section 32(1)(a) of the 2014 IHREC Act, to invite two recruitment agencies, Sigmar Recruitment Consultants Limited (‘Sigmar Recruitment’) and Staffline Recruitment (ROI) Limited (‘Staffline Recruitment’), to each carry out an equality review of their respective services. Both companies have accepted these invitations. Under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004, the Commission for Public Service Appointments can grant licenses to public bodies to enable them to undertake their own recruitment. Those public bodies can in turn can seek the assistance of a private sector recruitment agency with the tasks associated with the recruitment processes. Under the Employment Equality Acts, an employer must take ‘appropriate measures’ to meet the needs of disabled people in the workforce. This includes an obligation to ensure that arrangements are in place to enable a person who has a disability to have equal opportunities when applying for work. This obligation extends to employment agencies and requires an employment agency to take ‘appropriate measures’ where a person who has a disability seeks to use or uses any service provided by the employment agency to access employment. The Commission has invited both Sigmar Recruitment and Staffline Recruitment to each conduct an equality review into the accessibility of their recruitment processes for civil and public service roles for candidates who have visual impairment, specifically in relation to the provision of job application forms and aptitude tests. In particular, as part of their equality reviews, the Commission invited each agency to:
- Conduct an audit of the level of equality of opportunity that exists for candidates with a visual impairment in the recruitment of civil and public service roles;
- Identify all relevant current practices, procedures or other factors (for example, strategies, plans and positive action initiatives) that relate to the recruitment of civil and public service roles for individuals with a visual impairment;
- Assess the effectiveness of such practices, procedures and other factors in relation to the recruitment of civil and public service roles and the equality of opportunity of job candidates with a visual impairment; and
- Outline any recommendations and/or findings from the equality review.
Liam Herrick, the IHREC Chief Commissioner said:
“An effective and informed civil and public sector that aspires to deliver for all the people in Ireland, must be reflective of the society it serves, in all its diversity. People with disabilities, including those with visual impairment, should be encouraged to join the sectors. Equality reviews are an important opportunity for an organisation to reflect on its systems and practices and to assess the level of equality of opportunity within that organisation and identify how it can do better to promote equality of opportunity. We welcome both Sigmar Recruitment’s and Staffline Recruitment’s willingness to engage in this process.”
As the process has now begun, we will be making no further comment. ENDS/ For further information, please contact: Sarah Clarkin, Communications Manager, 01 859 2641 / 087 468 7760 Sarah.Clarkin@ihrec.ie Follow us on twitter @_IHREC Notes to the Editor: Equality Review Section 32 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality 2014 Act gives the Commission statutory powers in relation to the carrying out of Equality Reviews and the preparation of Equality Action Plans. An Equality Review or Equality Action Plan may relate to equality of opportunity generally, or a particular aspect of discrimination, within an organisation or organisations (public or private sector). Equality of opportunity is understood as meaning that an organisation affords the same opportunities and treatment to persons, without such persons being disadvantaged on the basis of any discriminatory grounds listed in the Employment Equality Acts and with a view to ensuring full equality in practice among persons. The discriminatory grounds listed in the Employment Equality Acts include the grounds of gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion, and membership of the Traveller community. Organisations are requested to carry out Equality Reviews and the focus of the reviews are a matter within the discretion of the Commission, having regard to its areas of focused work and its strategic priorities. In non-legal terms Equality Reviews are a means for an organisation to benchmark, or audit, its practices against its obligations under equality law in order to assess whether the organisation, as an employer, is fulfilling its statutory obligations to ensure equality of opportunity, or an absence of discrimination. Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is an independent public body, appointed by the President and directly accountable to the Oireachtas. The Commission has a statutory remit set out under the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act (2014) to protect and promote human rights and equality in Ireland, and build a culture of respect for human rights, equality and intercultural understanding in the State. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission is Ireland’s national human rights institution and is recognised as such by the United Nations. The Commission is also Ireland’s national equality body for the purpose of a range of EU anti-discrimination measures.