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Housing Seminar: Partnerships with the Public Sector – Avoiding the pitfalls
Thu 31 May 2012
Minerva House, 5 Montague Close, London, SE1 9BB
Mental health charity welcomes new equality legislation
Thu 08 Apr 2010
News that the government's flagship Equality Bill has completed the parliamentary process has been welcomed by mental health charity Mind.
The organisation stated that employers had previously been able to covertly "weed out" job applicants with a history of mental distress.
This, it said, took place even if a candidate was suitable for a job and led to other people with mental health problems being put off from applying.
However, the new legislation, which comes into force later this year, means that this practice will now be unlawful.
Paul Farmer, chief executive of Mind, said the law will go a long way towards ensuring that candidates with mental health issues are judged solely on their ability to do the job.
He added that he is "delighted" pre-employment health questionnaires will soon become a "thing of the past".
David von Hagen, employment law partner at Winckworth Sherwood solicitors, said: "I can see some benefits of not requiring pre-employment health questionnaires, but if employers are unaware of serious medical conditions, whether physical or mental, they cannot take steps to protect employees' health and safety.
"Not all employers are just bad guys 'weeding out' candidates they don't want."
According to figures from Mind, nearly one in three people in Britain will experience mental health problems every year.
