Concerns over 'dishonest staff' database

Concern appears to be growing over the prospect of a register of 'dishonest staff', which some retailers plan to use to screen candidates.

The National Staff Dismissal Register (NSDR) is due to be launched this month and will hold details of those "who have been dismissed or have left employment while being investigated for acts of dishonesty towards the company".

The register has been set up by Action Against Business Crime (AABC), a partnership between the British Retail Consortium and the Home Office, in association with Hicom Business Solutions. Organisers say that the scheme is backed by retailers including HMV, Harrods and Mothercare, as well staffing agency Reed Managed Services.

However, critics believe the scheme could blacklist employees who had either been unfairly accused or who had simply fallen out with their employer.

Both the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and civil liberties campaign group Liberty expressed their disquiet in a feature published by BBC News, with Liberty's legal director James Welch commenting that the scheme appeared "to bypass existing laws which protect employees".

Meanwhile much of the discussion of the register on the UK Business Forums website has been sympathetic to the aims of the scheme but scathing of its possible impact.

"I cannot believe that a government body is behind this project," said one contributor, adding that "the potential for misuse here is staggeringly high."