Equal employment opportunities

This policy is reviewed annually by the board and amendments made to comply with current legislation and/or good practice.

Curtins Consulting is an Equal Opportunity Employer in accordance with the provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, in assessing the suitability of applicants. It does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, nationality or ethnic origin, marital status, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or disability, and will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour. Curtins Consulting Engineers subscribes to the statutory Codes of Practice published by the Commission for Racial Equality and The Equal Opportunities Commission. All applicants are considered on their merits. Specifically, this means that the Company’s activities are guided by the following principles:

No person who applies to the Company for employment or services from contracts with Curtins will be treated less favourably than any person or group because of their colour, race, religion, ethnic or national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, caring responsibilities, physical disability, or appearance.

Recruitment & selection

• Advertisements will not be confined unjustifiably to areas or publications, which could exclude or disproportionately reduce the number of applicants of a particular racial group.
• Advertisements will avoid reference to length of residence in the UK, and where a particular qualification is required, make it clear in the advertisement that fully equivalent qualifications obtained abroad are just as acceptable as the UK qualification.
• When sending literature to applicants (and make it clear on our web-site jobs section) that Curtins is an Equal Opportunities Employer.
• Avoid recruiting solely from recommendations from existing staff where the workforce is predominantly white but the potential skills market is multi-racial.

The tests for the selection criteria must be such as to ensure that they are relevant to the specific job requirements and are not discriminatory, for example:

• The standard of English should not be of a higher level of educational qualification than is needed for the particular vacancy.
• Qualifications from overseas, which are equivalent to UK qualifications, should be considered acceptable.
• Selection tests should be checked to ensure that they are related to the job’s requirements

The person responsible for short-listing, interviewing and selection of applicants must:

• Be clearly informed of the selection criteria for their consistent application
• Be given guidance / training to help avoid making generalised assumptions / prejudices about race which could have an adverse effect on selection decisions
• Be made aware of possible misunderstandings that can occur in interviews between people of different cultural backgrounds.
• Wherever possible, the short-listing and interviewing should be done by more than one person, and should be checked by a director.

The Company will monitor the selection criteria, procedures, recruitment and other employment decisions to ensure that direct or indirect discrimination is not occurring, and that individuals are selected or promoted solely on the basis of their merit and abilities appropriate to the job.