Employee searches – what does signed consent mean? And what if the employee subsequently refuses to be searched?

Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A NI on 6 December 2011
Arthur Cox
Arthur Cox
Issues covered:

To conduct a search of an employee without their express consent could constitute assault, battery, false imprisonment and/or sexual assault. There may also be civil remedies available to the employee for the civil offence of trespass to the person.

In addition, searching your employees without their consent would almost certainly be seen as a breach of the mutual duty of trust and confidence between employer and employee. This could entitle the employee to resign and claim constructive dismissal. Some employers include an express stop and search provision in their contracts of employment - employees will be deemed to have given their consent when entering into and signing the contract.

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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 02/09/2015
Disclaimer:

The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.

Arthur Cox
Arthur Cox

The main content of this article was provided by Arthur Cox. Contact telephone number is +44 28 9026 2673 or email rosemary.lundy@arthurcox.com

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