Where to get HR Policies and Procedures?

[Citizen X]

Yes HRS, indeed it does. I am mediating a workplace dispute and was researching how companies deal with criminal records. It's interesting that there is a wealth of information out there on almost every other aspect of a company's policies and procedures but very little of consequence on the subject of criminal records.

Hi Andy,

Could you perhaps provide some more information about the dispute?

Off-the-cuff, I can say that being arrested or having a history of being arrested means nothing whatsoever unless the accused was convicted. Anyone can get arrested, if you file a charge of assualt against your neighbour, even though, he didn't assualt you, the police are still obligated to arrest him!
Criminal Records: The best way to establish if an employee has a criminal record is to get the employee to obtain 'Police Clearance.'
http://www.dfa.gov.za/consular/policeclear.htm

Remember, in labour disputes, each individual case must be considered on it's own merits, the LRA must be applied where applicable and the company is bound by it's own disciplinary code and procedure..

[HR Solutions]

Off-the-cuff, I can say that being arrested or having a history of being arrested means nothing whatsoever unless the accused was convicted

I'm afraid this is totally not true. If you do a comprehensive criminal check and pick up that a guy was arrested for theft and charges dropped, then lets say it happened again and charges dropped and this has happened in the space of two years ago, this is a problem.

A client would ask us for 4 cvs of candidates to interview. If this guy is one of the candidates on the short list for the job he will fall off the list very quickly. It is a clients right to choose who he wants from a shortlist. He would certainly prefer a "cleaner" applicant. That is why I said in an earlier post, sometimes it is better to only use a criminal check that only picks up convictions, not everything, but sometimes clients want to know everything from the day he was born.

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

I would be doubtful if you will find a criminal records/acts policy.
A policy is essentially a form of rule. No downloading mor ethan 2mb, no personal calls, if you use a car you must check for damage etc,ect
A criminal record before employment or after, would depend on the offence and the actual job, there are too many permutations to make a policy as such.
There are jobs where a criminal record will disqualify you, eg, casino work, security work and such. It will be specific offences ect that disqualify you.
If an employee, whislt employed gets a record taht now disqualyfies him, then you need to follow an operational requiremenst procedure.

the starting point will probably be does the nature of the offence go to the core of the employment relationship. Theft, fraud and such will in most cases be disqualifyers, in pre employement. After employment probably strong reason, if I work with cash then dishonesty will be more pertinent compared to a gardener. etc
Assault may not be a disqualifyer unless it was a work colleague perhaps.
Smoking dope may be a criminal offence but unlikely to effect the work relationship unles perhaps I am a preacher or an anti drug organisation.

Hopefully these examples are pointing you in a direction.
You say you are mediating a dispute which means there is probably an existing employee.

[Citizen X]

I'm afraid this is totally not true. If you do a comprehensive criminal check and pick up that a guy was arrested for theft and charges dropped, then lets say it happened again and charges dropped and this has happened in the space of two years ago, this is a problem.

I don't agree with this contention for the following reason: An accused is innocent until proven guilty. Should an individual be arrested but not convicted, the arrest can't be held against that person as he/she has not being convicted.

[Andys69ZA]

Thanks everyone for your assistance. Yes I am about to mediate a dispute between employer and employer. Not 100% sure yet what the dispute is about as I only have a short synopsis from the employee who approached me and I cannot glean much from that except that it has to do with his prior criminal record and an incident that happened at his place of work. I am waiting for the employer to respond. Responses to my query have given me a good overview of the complexities involved, which is great.

[HR Solutions]

I don't agree with this contention for the following reason: An accused is innocent until proven guilty. Should an individual be arrested but not convicted, the arrest can't be held against that person as he/she has not being convicted.

Well would you hire someone to handle large amounts of money if you were told that he was fired for stealing money - a charge was laid but withdrawn ??

Hearing and knowing this you would presume that a deal was made between the employer and the employee to pay back the money and they would drop the charge. But deep down that little charge is still there.

So back to my question - Would YOU Vanash Naick hire someone to handle money/bank transfers etc if you knew this ??

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Whether you have policy or not, an arrest or charge is always going to count against you, rightfully or wrongfully.
As employee, one part says disclose and explain upfront, but you worry that will put you out of the game, the other part says keep quiet, but if employer finds out then you are toast.
There is also the issue of if you must disclose a criminal record ( on the premise that you are not asked)? There is one case on this and court found against employee.

[HR Solutions]

Whether you have policy or not, an arrest or charge is always going to count against you, rightfully or wrongfully.
As employee, one part says disclose and explain upfront, but you worry that will put you out of the game, the other part says keep quiet, but if employer finds out then you are toast.
There is also the issue of if you must disclose a criminal record ( on the premise that you are not asked)? There is one case on this and court found against employee.

Quite correct. We have just had a scenario that the guy was honest with us and told us that he was fired for stealing. We passed this info onto our client (which we have to) and the client said no to the candidate ! His crim record came back clean, so obviously he was threatened by the ex employer and the employer actually didn't lay a charge and he thought it had been laid. Unfortunately he screwed himself by telling us and we had already passed the info on. But long story short - he never got the job - so yes it can count against you rightfully or wrongfully.

Fortunately or unfortunately in the real world this innocent thing until proven guilty does not work. If you cause trouble you must expect to suffer the consequences !

[Citizen X]

Well would you hire someone to handle large amounts of money if you were told that he was fired for stealing money - a charge was laid but withdrawn ??

Hearing and knowing this you would presume that a deal was made between the employer and the employee to pay back the money and they would drop the charge. But deep down that little charge is still there.

So back to my question - Would YOU Vanash Naick hire someone to handle money/bank transfers etc if you knew this ??

To be clear, I wouldn't hire an individual who has being convicted of bank robbery to work in a bank! On this note, I will have no reservations whatsoever of hiring a person who has been arrested but never convicted. This person retains his innocent status until a court finds him guilty. Many people are arrested for extremely petty things such aas loitering. I beleive all provinces have this as a by law. Suppose someone attacks you in your property and you shoot that person. regardless of the fact that you acted in self defence, you are still arrested and charged with murder. The only difference is that you have a valid defence. So, if a person looks superficially at just what the pc at the local police station says, then it says, on a certain date you were charged with and arrested for murder.
Does this make my position more clearer?

[HR Solutions]

Many people are arrested for extremely petty things such aas loitering

Thanks but you eloquently skirted my question. My question did relate to THEFT, not loitering.
But anyway its your opinion - it certainly is not what happens in the real world.