Equal Opportunities and Modern Slavery Policies
An equal opportunities policy is a statement of organisational procedures and practices which provide genuine equality of opportunity for all employees, regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin, marriage, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.
Modern slavery is defined as the recruitment, movement, harbouring, or receiving of children, women, or men through the use of force, coercion, abuse of vulnerability, deception, or other means for the purpose of exploitation.
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Equal Opportunities Policy
The Company is committed to the principle of equality of opportunity in employment and opposes all forms of discrimination or harassment on the grounds of race, colour, religion, creed, citizenship, age, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, medical condition or disability. These principles apply to all recruitment, promotion, pay and benefits, and all other terms and conditions of employment. The Company’s recruitment policy is based solely on the necessary and justifiable job requirements and the applicant’s ability and fitness for the position.
The Company’s equal opportunities policy encompasses people with disabilities. Wherever possible, applicants with disabilities will be considered, without reference to their disabilities, when applying for jobs and as far as is reasonably possible, the workplace will be adapted for the needs of employees with disabilities.
Discrimination of any nature will be regarded as misconduct and will be treated as a disciplinary matter under the Company’s disciplinary procedure. Depending on the seriousness of the offense it may be considered gross misconduct and you may be dismissed without notice.
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Modern Slavery Policy
We are committed to ensuring that there is no modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business. Our Anti-slavery Policy reflects our commitment to acting ethically and with integrity in all our business relationships and to implementing and enforcing effective systems and controls to ensure slavery and human trafficking are not taking place anywhere in our business.
In addition to the strict definition of ‘slavery’, at the Law Support Group, we believe strongly in paying both our staff and our candidates a fair amount that is above the living wage and in most cases above market rate, not just the minimum required. We never exploit our employees to increase our margins and always ensure that any increases in rates are passed on to the worker.
We operate a robust recruitment policy for both Law Support Staff and our candidates, including conducting eligibility to work in the UK checks for all employees to safeguard against human trafficking or individuals being forced to work against their will. We also operate a whistleblowing policy so that all employees know that they can raise concerns about how colleagues and candidates are being treated, or practices within our business, without fear of reprisals.
We do our best to get to know our candidates, hopefully building up a level of trust and openness that allows us to ask more in-depth questions about their situation, the circumstances of their arrival, etc.
We also make sure that any other businesses that we partner with have comparable policies and procedures about modern slavery.