"James Hammerton" wrote in message
news:68h6p0F2slupqU1@mid.individual.net...
> Dirk Bruere at NeoPax wrote:
>> Lord Turkey Cough wrote:
>>> "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.
>>
>> And what of the Data Protection Act?
>>
> Good question! Do employers have the right to pass on unproven allegations
> against their employees to other employers without the consent of the
> employees concerned?
Nope, nor does the company distributing the data.
Any unpoven accusations are libel.
If I was on the list I would be sueing left right and centre.
>
> James
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