Disability dispute ensues for North London recruiter

28-May-2008

A North London recruitment agency has become embroiled in a bitter dispute nine months after an Employment Tribunal ruled that it had discriminated against a deaf jobseeker.

Freelance disability trainer Pauline Alexander took Edgware-based property recruiter Sales Link Services (SLS) to a tribunal after a consultant refused to give her an interview because she was deaf.

Recriminations were sparked after SLS agreed a £5,000 out of court settlement shortly before a tribunal hearing was due to decide compensation for Alexander.

Alexander told Recruiter: "It's hard to believe that companies like Sales Link Services are behaving like this, more than 10 years after the Disability Discrimination Act became law.

"It would have been nice to have received an apology, but I haven't even had this."

It is the first successful claim against a recruiter under the Disability Discrimination Act.

The Employment Tribunal found against SLS, even though the company subsequently interviewed Alexander for the position as a home buying adviser. Alexander claims they only did so after she complained that the company had discriminated against her because of her disability.

All other elements of Alexander's claim were dismissed, including one that, following the interview, the company had not registered her as a home buying adviser on account of her deafness.

Stephen Hockley, a partner at SLS, accused Alexander of "running a campaign" against the company, which included "sending out her own press releases".

But Alexander told Recruiter: "I am not running a campaign. I am trying to make a positive change that will benefit other people, especially in employment agencies."

Alexander also claimed that SLS had failed to carry out disability equality training of its staff, something that was part of the settlement agreement.

However, Carol Hockley, co-owner of SLS denied this, telling Recruiter: "We are doing disability awareness training. We had six months to complete this, which has not yet expired." Stephen Hockley cited a passage from the Tribunal's judgement that the company "had genuinely set about making amends for their error".

colin.cottell@centaur.co.uk