Guide to managing colleagues' right to work in the UK


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Guide to managing colleagues’ right to work in the UK April 2016

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Internal, Guide to managing colleagues right to work in the UK Page 1 of 4 April 2016

Ensuring that all of your colleagues have provided the necessary documents to prove their right to work in the UK, and following the right to work processes, is an essential part of a manager’s job. There are consequences for failing to manage this adequately – both for the company and for you. This Guide outlines what is expected of you, and also gives some useful background information - please read this in conjunction with the policy. If you are in any doubt as to what action to take, or what process to follow, please contact the central Employment Compliance team at: [email protected]

Stores and distribution All candidates upload their right to work documents as part of their on-line application of employment to Tesco. These documents are then checked by Keesing (an external company) and if the candidate has the right to work in the UK you will be sent a Candidate Right to Work report giving you the green light to invite them to an interview. Ask the candidate to bring the original documents confirming their right to work to their interview. Check them for the following in the presence of the candidate, and then sign the Keesing report to confirm you have done so: -

Any photographs match the person. The Keesing document matches the candidate and the right to work documents. Dates of birth should be consistent with the person and across documents. Any expiry dates for limited leave to enter/remain in the UK have not passed. Any endorsements (stamps, visa etc.) allow the person to do the type of work you need them for. They appear genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to the person. Names are consistent across documents; if not, ask for a further document (for example: marriage certificate, divorce decree, deed poll).

Under no circumstances must an offer of employment be made unless the candidate has a positive Keesing report. Ensure that the signed and dated Keesing report is stored in the colleague’s personnel file. You do not need to take a copy of the right to work documents themselves and place this on file, as copies are now held centrally. Office and Customer Engagement centres As candidates are not yet required to upload their right to work documents as part of an on-line application process, their right to work is not checked centrally. It is therefore crucial that the interviewing manager carries out the following steps: Step One:

Ensure the candidate has provided original relevant documents as specified in the lists detailed in Appendix 1 at the end of the policy.

Step Two:

Check the original documents for the following, in the presence of the candidate, and sign a Right to Work Declaration (please click here to access a copy) to confirm that you have done so: - Any photographs should match the person. - Dates of birth should be consistent with the person and across documents. - Any expiry dates for limited leave to enter/remain in the UK must not have passed. - Any endorsements (stamps, visa etc.) allow the person to do the type of work. - They appear genuine, have not been tampered with and belong to the person. - Names are consistent across documents, and if not, ask for a further document (marriage certificate, divorce decree, deed poll etc.).

Step Three:

Take a copy of the documents (including each page of a passport except for blank pages), and scan them to your Resourcing team contact along with your Right to Work Declaration. The Resourcing team will liaise with the Employment Compliance team for further checks if necessary. Place copies of the documents on the candidate’s file which must be securely locked away. Internal, Guide to managing colleagues right to work in the UK Page 2 of 4 April 2016

Under no circumstances must an offer of employment be made unless the candidate has provided evidence of their right to work in the UK.

If you have someone in your team who has limited leave to remain and work in the UK (they will have provided documents from List 3), you must ensure that you do not employ them in breach of any working restrictions they may have. The most common example is international students: they are restricted to working a maximum of 10 or 20 hours per week during their term-time (their visa will state whether 10 or 20 hours applies). If you have an international student in your team you must not allow them to work in excess of this maximum in any term-time week. This includes any ad-hoc overtime as well as contracted hours. This also means that you may not allow them to work without pay during term-time and then pay it to them once they are outside of term-time. You should ask your student for an official document which details their term-time dates so that you are clear about when their hours’ restriction applies. The Employment Compliance team monitor student hours and if a breach has occurred there will be an investigation. Managers who are found to have deliberately allowed students to work will face disciplinary action.

Sometimes a colleague who already works for us with limited leave to remain in the UK, asks us to sponsor them under Tier 2 in order to be able to remain in the UK and continue to work for Tesco. In very limited circumstances we may be able to do so. The job they are doing must meet the minimum requirements under Tier 2 (that is, it must require unique skills which are difficult to find from within the European Economic Area) and the colleague must be able to score enough ‘points’ as detailed in the Tier 2 criteria. More details can be found on the following Government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-application-for-uk-visa-as-tier-2-worker If you think that the colleague may qualify and you are happy to pay the sponsorship fee, please consult with your People Business Partner / People Manager. Please note that the only jobs in store that would qualify are pharmacists or opticians.

There are some limited roles within the company that could qualify for Tier 2 sponsorship. If you cannot source applicants for your vacancy with the necessary skills from within the European Economic Area (EEA) you may be able to recruit someone from outside the EEA on a Tier 2 visa. Please discuss this with your Resourcing Manager who will liaise with the Global Mobility team.

If UK Enforcement visits our premises, we should check their ID and then co-operate fully. They have the power to close a store down temporarily whilst they conduct a search of our personnel files, or interview our colleagues. They make take copies of documents but may not remove the originals. If they find anyone working illegally or without the required documentation, they may arrest a colleague and/or issue us with a ‘Notice of Potential Liability (NOPL)’. Please contact your Group (stores) or Stream (distribution) People Manager immediately to let them know, and scan a copy of the NOPL to the Employment Compliance team (email: [email protected]). If the Illegal Working Civil Penalties Unit decides to issue Tesco with a Notice of Liability we will have 28 days to Internal, Guide to managing colleagues right to work in the UK Page 3 of 4 April 2016

appeal this before we are given a civil penalty of up to £20,000.

If a colleague is arrested we should follow the standard disciplinary procedure, which is to suspend the colleague, invite them to an investigatory meeting, invite to disciplinary hearing and ultimately dismissal if they have not got the right to work in the UK. If possible, the colleague should be suspended before UK Enforcement removes them from the premises. At all times the colleague should be given every opportunity to represent or defend themselves – in writing or by telephone or via a representative if they are unable to meet face to face. We should make every reasonable effort to investigate the circumstances and to ensure that any letters reach them. These are our employment obligations even if the colleague is in custody and ultimately is deported. As a last resort you can email the central Employment Compliance team with a copy of the letter you have sent, and they will pass it on to the Home Office to pass on to the colleague if they are still in custody. If the colleague is not able to attend a disciplinary meeting without good reason, or we do not hear back from them, we are able to hold the meeting in their absence and dismiss them. Please notify your Group (stores) or Stream (distribution) People Manager immediately, and also email the Employment Compliance team at: [email protected]

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