"James Hammerton" wrote in message
news:68h136F2stlmsU1@mid.individual.net...
> Yet more guilt by accusation in Britain. From the BBC
> (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7389547.stm):
>
> "To critics it sounds like a scenario from some Orwellian nightmare.
>
> An online database of workers accused of theft and dishonesty,
> regardless of whether they have been convicted of any crime, which
> bosses can access when vetting potential employees.
>
> But this is no dystopian fantasy. Later this month, the National
> Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is expected to go live.
>
> Organisers say that major companies including Harrods, Selfridges
> and Reed Managed Services have already signed up to the scheme. By
> the end of May they will be able to check whether candidates for
> jobs have faced allegations of stealing, forgery, fraud, damaging
> company property or causing a loss to their employers and suppliers.
>
> Workers sacked for these offences will be included on the register,
> regardless of whether police had enough evidence to convict them.
> Also on the list will be employees who resigned before they could
> face disciplinary proceedings at work.
>
> Note the vague "causing loss to their employers" bit of this.
>
> And who’s behind this? The AABC, a group set up under a partnership
> between the Home Office and the British Retail Consortium (i.e. a bit of
> corporate statism):
>
> The register is an initiative of Action Against Business Crime
> (AABC), which was established as a joint venture between the Home
> Office and the British Retail Consortium “to set up and maintain
> business crime reduction partnerships”.
>
> To be fair to the Home Office they say they stopped funding the AABC this
> year.
>
> I wonder whether AABC could be sued for libel by someone wrongly accused
> via this database?
Seems to be punishment without trial, which is forbidden by the human rights
act.
And yes it does appear to be libelous.
Mind you so many business these days are run by criminals that
they might very the the fact that you are percieved to be a criminal
as a positive attribute, someone who would fit in well with the crooks
already working there.
>
> James
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