Not given interview for job done previously

[nc4050]

First of all sorry for very long post but looking for advice.

BIL applied for role in NHS which has previously been his role for 2 years. He left as it was temporary and went to work for private company but really dislikes it so applied for his role again. Generally well thought of, non existing sickness level, many staff members wanting his return as the job is not getting done and things going wrong on the department.

He emailed his previous manager to say he would like to return but did not receive a response. Now, lets just say this manager is unhinged, a notorious liar and he does not know if yet but has a huge fraud investigation open into him with an external agency due to claiming personal travel (trains, hotels, fuel etc) as his business expenses The system in place in this trust clearly needs looking at and this man has apparently put through £1000's worth of claims.
When the job advert finally came out, BIL was told manager was going around telling people that he would be hiring a lower banded employee from a different department (before the interviews had even taken place) he seems to get fixated on younger members of staff and wants to fill the department with younger, less competent workers but ones that will take his fraudulent claims to the cash office for him!

BIL put in an excellent application form and was expecting an interview. He is extremely articulate and there was no way that he did not fit the criteria of the role he previously did. The job was on standstill for 3 weeks until I believe HR told the manager he had to interview or it would be pulled. The reason for the standstill being is that he did not want to give BIL an interview, he knew who he wanted and that was that but he was trying to find a way out of it. Three days before the interview took place another member of staff told BIL that he didn't have an interview and then BIL received a lovely email (composed by chatGPT) from previous manager telling him that he couldn't interview him as it was an internal job but should things change, he would be welcome back (which we know is a lie) the role was not internal at all. It was open to external candidates and BIL has the proof. His application still sits on the platform used to apply and has not even been marked as unsuccessful or role filled or anything as of yet.

He spoke to HR who were absolutely useless and said, you were placed on a reserve list but no one dropped out so manager technically has not done anything wrong. Except manager lied and said it was internal only and the application still sits on the site without showing any update. He even emailed HR the day before the interviews took place as soon as he found out to explain that he has been told he's not been given an interview and the manager has already been going around saying who will be getting the job and he thought it was unfair that he would not even be interviewed. This was the case, the inexperienced candidate from another department who was encouraged to apply by manager got the role. He got no reply from this HR response but sent another email to someone higher and received a response yesterday telling him he had been reserved so it was fine, no wrong doing.

I believe there was outrage from a few of the members of staff there that BIL was not even given an interview as he was well liked by everyone (apart from this manager obviously)

Is there any chance this could be taken to a tribunal or not as manager lied to him. The whole thing was stalled because manager was trying to find a way not to interview BIL. Obviously he does not work for the trust anymore so I don't know if this stands a chance or not.
This mans behaviour needs to be addressed. I can't see him keeping his job once the fraud allegations are placed in front of him, people wonder why the NHS has no money and you have people like him given some power and access to funds and this is what they do!

Your ‘bil’ isn’t entitled to an interview and unless he can prove he was discriminated against, based on a protected characteristic, I can’t see that he has a case for a grievance. Best to let it go and move on. Whatever happens to this manager will happen without your bil working for him.

I’m not a lawyer. To work out if there’s a legal route, try a lawyer or call ACAS.

Is there potential discrimination here due to sex, race, gender reassignment or disability? In which case your Dh can sue, though it’s a hell of a thing to do and I don’t think I would go through that in order to work for this idiot.

Always important to keep in mind the ideal outcome - to be interviewed for the job and to do it without the idiot in post.

Much more to the point is to contact someone senior to the idiot that your Dh knows, and try to meet with them (lunch?) and fill them in.

Personally I would keep in touch, but for now I would join the Trust bank or a locum agency and start working for a different team in the same Trust to bide my time.

Sorry not your Dh!

NHS is all about point scoring. So weather he gets an interview depends how his application (experience & personal statement) is linked to the job description.

Sir Google, KC, says the following:

First steps in a claimant alleging unfair rejection
It is for a claimant to prove employment discrimination and this is not straightforward. The first thing a rejected applicant is likely to do if he/she suspects discrimination is to submit a Subject Access Request (“SAR”) demanding data about them. The employer then has 1 month (which can be extended) to produce all data it has relating to the person.
Data released after a Subject Access Request rarely, if ever, will be enough to prove discrimination. This is because the complainant will need a comparator for direct discrimination. Typically, the complainant will ask for other documents and data such as any Equality data, the document trail for the job he/she was rejected for and often lots more. The employer then has a dilemma – what, if anything, to disclose and how much?
Failure to disclose any information, documents or data may increase the risk of allegations being made public and also carries the risk, if an Employment Tribunal discrimination claim is made, of adverse inferences being made by the Tribunal because no documents have been provided after request.
Case law examples
In pure legal terms, it is difficult for job applicants to prove discrimination during recruitment. There are not many examples of reported claims which have reached a Tribunal hearing. Most court claims of all types do not reach a trial and are settled out of court. Reported cases do include :-

• Discrimination where after a job offer was made, the employer discovered, when getting references that the claimant had had a lot of time off work and had a disability. The employer then withdrew the job offer.
• Age discrimination related claim based on indirect discrimination where an existing employee wanted to apply for an internal role where there was a disproportionate bias towards staff under the age of 55.

I’ve no idea if he can sue or not - I’d think not as no one is entitled to an interview.

But I doubt you can miss the points score for a job you did for 2 years based on experience!

Plus the added issue is that he was told it was internal but it wasn’t advertised as fact.

Tbh I have no idea why your BIL would want to return to a role with such an arsehole manager?!

Many people apply for jobs they’re well qualified for and don’t get an interview. They can’t do anything about that as there’s no obligation for the employer to interview them unless they’re part of a guaranteed interview scheme eg disability related. If there’s some discrimination element relating to a protected characteristic then there may be an angle, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case and as HR sound useless, a tribunal for a job he merely applied for sounds like a reach. As the manager is an unhinged liar who doesn’t like your BIL, he’s surely better off not working there and putting this behind him.

You do have a case if you can prove discrimination due to a protected characteristic, but proving it is the difficult part. You would have to show somehow that your protected characteristic was the reason for them not interviewing you, and you would be dependent on the employer's disclosure, so even if they had decided amongst themselves that they were only interviewing women, or only interviewing people under 40 or whatever, they are unlikely to disclose any kind of paper trail showing that.

As others have said, no-one is entitled to an interview. Even if they are the best qualified applicant for the job on paper, the employer is entitled to reject their application without an interview. Your description of his previous manager suggests strongly that they didn't get on well, so it is not surprising that he didn't interview your BIL. Unless he can show that the refusal to interview was due to a protected characteristic, your BIL does not have a case.

Why on earth would your BIL want to work for a manager he despises so much?

Yes, he has done a few NHS roles before and is well versed in these applications. He is extremely articulate (it annoys me how much sometimes haha) but I can't see how he did not complete the application form for a job he previously did incorrectly, especially over someone much younger and two grades lower (unless they obviously had help) he applied for the same job 2 years ago and got the job so it seems highly unlikely he did not score enough.

Thank you for this!

Recruiters can 'score' answers however they like. It might not be fair, but that's the way it works. If they have a preferred candidate they will interpret their answers favourably. From what you've said of your BIL's manager he sounds like the last person to make a point of scrupulous fairness when scoring answers. It baffles me that he should want to work for such a person again; or that he expected to get an interview in the circumstances.

He didn't not get on with him but this manager did not like anyone who was employed by a previous manager who left the trust apparently (he wants to build his own team) but they never had any harsh words and he did have a good appraisals from him. Honestly BIL in quite inoffensive and generally does get on with everyone, there were many staff messaging him when they heard he did not get an interview and were outraged, he showed me the messages even when we were at his house for dinner.

I did say this, as I see BIL quite alot and I myself also work for this trust but in a completely different site and when he told me how manager acts etc I did say, he probably won't give you an interview but BIL I feel is quite naive and obviously thought, how could he not?

Time to move on and apply for a job elsewhere. If the boss is as toxic as described, why on earth would he want to go back there? The fraud investigation is out of your hands, and I guess, none of your business really unfortunately.

Life's too short. He needs to move on.

Anyway thank you for all replies. This has been a busy thread for so early - I feel advise BIL to ask for feedback and if he feels to write a letter of complaint but with the expectations that he will probably receive a generic response.

I assume they thought that he must have been unhappy in his role to leave, and he would consequently only be back as a stop-gap until he finds something else

Complacency & Entitlement are 2 main factors why people don't get jobs they have done on a temporary basis previously.

Yes! This! It's the fact the manager emailed him and said sorry this was for internal applications only which was a blatant lie. This is why I feel he should make some sort of complaint but also as other have said, probably just time to move on. The manager will hopefully get their comeuppance.

Agree, it's highly likely that his having left of his own volition relatively recently would have counted against him applying for exactly the same role he left, even if no toxic personalities were involved. It's different from wanting to come back in another role, or a promotion, having gained experience elsewhere.

OK!

He wrote to the manager two weeks after starting his new job saying the new job is not as advertised and should the position get reopened he would like to re apply. The manager knew the only reason he left was that it was a temporary role and he is wanting to start a family soon would like to have more security and the company he works for contacted him through indeed and he said he just kind of went for it on a whim. Anyway, the manager never bothered replying to him back in June.

And you just accepted this unlikely tale from your BIL at face value?