LCR22200

• “I recommend therefore that, where the College is considering a departure from the standard recruitment procedure, that they should inform candidates and employees in the relevant department as soon as is reasonably possible. This communication should inform staff and candidates of the College's right to depart from the recruitment process and the exceptional circumstances that apply”.

The matter before the Court concerns a recruitment competition which attracted 96 candidates. That competition was for a very senior role with the employer. The competition initially took the form of shortlisting seven candidates. The Appellant was not a shortlisted candidate.

At a point in the competition the employer decided not to recruit for the post advertised but rather to appoint two of the shortlisted candidates to two newly created lower graded roles.

The Court can observe that the path followed by the employer in completing this recruitment procedure was extraordinary. In essence, the employer advertised and commenced a process to recruit a very senior member of staff and, during the course of the recruitment process, changed course and decided not to recruit to the originally identified position but to create two new positions and to appoint two of the candidates for the original competition to those positions.

The extraordinary nature of the process was exacerbated by the fact that relatively little information was shared with the candidates for the initial competition as regards proceedings during the execution and completion of the recruitment process for which they had applied.

Noting the above, the Court understands that the Appellant is dissatisfied with the process of recruitment and what he identified as the loss of opportunity suffered by him. He contends that, had the two new posts been advertised, he would have been a strong candidate for appointment to one of those positions. In effect the Appellant believes that the failure to advertise the new positions afresh deprived him of an opportunity to advance his career.

The Appellant seeks monetary compensation for that loss of opportunity and seeks that the employer acknowledge its failings in the conduct of the impugned competition and undertake that such would not be repeated. In addition, the Appellant seeks assurance that wherever a similar event might occur in the future, all candidates be made fully aware of what has occurred.

The Court recommends that the employer should take every step to avoid a departure from the standard recruitment procedure in the future and that wherever such an event as occurred in the impugned competition might occur, candidates be advised of such a development as soon as is reasonably possible.

The Court, noting that the Appellant can be seen to be in the same position as 94 other unsuccessful candidates, cannot reasonably conclude that the Appellant has established that the events of this competition did in fact deprive him or any other unsuccessful candidate of a certain opportunity for career advancement. In those circumstances, the Court is unable to recommend concession of the claim for monetary compensation.

The Court so recommends.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Kevin Foley
TH______________________
11 March 2020Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Decision should be addressed to Therese Hickey, Court Secretary.