A BBC report today says that a company in Droitwich was selling information on prospective employees to many employers in the construction business. The Consulting Association is alleged to have breached the Data Protection Act in doing so.
I blogged on this back in August and posed the question about a Sunday Times report that the Criminal Records Bureau had been involved in the same practice - yet was this prudent by employers or plain breaking the law?
A Question Of Morals
The firm in Droitwich was raided in February and found to have records on over 3,000 construction workers with highly subjective information and views on them which prospective employers could buy access to and 'screen' employees beforehand. particularly highlighted were alleged 'lazy' employees and 'trouble makers', some even labelled 'communist'.
There is little doubt that the Droitwich firm was acting illegally. But the wider question was whether employers were also doing so as such information is known to be illegally pedalled. Surely this is a akin to be arrested for receiving stolen goods?
Lord Mandelson has spoken out weakly prior to his face full of green custard but I would hope the employers are also found guilty of trading in information illegally gotten and used.
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