Anti-blacklisting regulations

The anti-blacklisting laws, the Employment Relations Act 1999 (Blacklists) Regulations 2010 (the Blacklist Regulations), became law in March 2010. The Blacklist Regulations make it unlawful for trade union members to be denied employment through the use of blacklists and they ban the compilation, dissemination and use of blacklists.

Under the Blacklist Regulations it is unlawful to refuse employment or sack someone because their name appears on a blacklist. It is also unlawful for employment agencies to refuse to provide a service because someone’s name is on a blacklist.

Individuals or unions can pursue compensation or solicit action against those who compile, distribute or use blacklists.

The Blacklist Regulations were introduced following the discovery, in February 2009, of a secret blacklist that was being maintained by a business known as The Consulting Association. Its blacklist, naming more than 3,200 construction workers, overwhelmingly trade unionists, was uncovered in a raid by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The information on the blacklist, built up over decades, was secretly shared among 44 of the largest construction employers in the UK and was used to deny employment to those named on the list.

Despite the devastating impact of blacklisting on workers and their families, there has only been one prosecution for it. In July 2009, the manager of the Consulting Association, Ian Kerr, was fined just £5,000 with £1,187 costs for breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998. None of the companies that accessed the blacklist (whose names are now listed on the ICO website) or any of their directors suffered any penalty.

Blacklisted trade union safety reps and health and safety activists are among those who set up the Blacklist Support Group to campaign for justice following the discovery of the construction blacklist and in May 2010, the Group announced that an employment tribunal had ruled in a test case that information on the files compiled by The Consulting Association held by the ICO should be made public.