Business
Unconscious bias (UB) is a growing legal issue for employers. It’s widely regarded as a barrier to equality, diversity and inclusion, and employment tribunals are looking more closely at motivation and bias in discrimination and harassment cases.While it’s been talked about for a number of years, many employers still aren’t doing enough to reduce the risk of UB infiltrating people’s decisions about candidates and colleagues.In this episode, we discuss:How does UB present itself as a legal issue?Ways of reducing the risk, including training, recruitment models and corporate cultureWhat the employment tribunal looks forProving UB and a direct causal linkDiscrimination and reasonable adjustments case lawIn our news section, we cover:Facial recognition technology and a case showing just how far organisations must go to satisfy themselves that there isn’t a risk of biasThe breakdown of working relationships between employees, and a surprising decision that a dismissal was fair, even though there was no dismissal processEmployment status, including a finding of “false self-employment” – a stark warning ahead of possible job losses as a result of the pandemicThe latest predictions about the Supreme Court’s pending decision in the Uber employment status case, due later this yearWe also share our views on the government’s long-term “back to work” plan, including refusal to return to work, unfair dismissal, flexible working requests and indirect sex discrimination.Further reading:AI – ethical considerations and the privacy legal frameworkSeven top questions on returning staff to work during the pandemicSend us your questions and we'll answer them in a future episode – email emplawpodcast@tltsolicitors.com or tweet us using the hashtag #TLTemploymentpodcast and tag @TLT_EmploymentYou can find out more about our employment team at tltsolicitors.com/employmentSign up to receive legal insights at tltsolicitors.com/signupIf you’ve enjoyed listening, please rate us and write a review.