Dear Flipside Media
I am writing this letter because I noticed many issues and flaws that are present in your Job advert looking for an Apprentice digital video production Producer which you posted recently. These are flaws that should be rectified as soon as possible due to their nature.
To start with the advertisements mention of salary of "£15,000 - £35,000 per annum + benefits" and hours "10 - 45" is to broad and vague in terms of what the potential applicant will be earning and working. With the salary for example does the payment depend on hours? In addition this also comes under pay equality, for example if the pay is determined on the sexual orientation of the employee that would be violating the Equal Pay and Equality act of 2010 " The Equal Pay Act 1970 means that people should be paid the same regardless of their gender. You have a right not to be paid less than someone of the opposite sex doing". Even if it is not i would still like a response about the pay. The hours can also be really off putting to potential applicants as people may have family commitments for example and they wont be sure on the hours they will be working. In addition I also noticed that under hours and salary that you are looking for a Male/Female who is exclusively under the age of 30 bearing in mind that this is age discrimination and I don't really see the point either. Considering that the job position is not a News presenter or something of similar nature I believe that no matter what age the applicant is as long as they do there job age should not matter. "The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against employees, job seekers and trainees because of their age".
Religion in your advertisement also mentions that the applicants have to be of a Christian faith because you are a Christian lead organisation. "Religious views - Christian: You should promote the ideals of the Christian Faith". However first off I think that like age, Religious views shouldn't really get in the way of the work load they may have which brings me to my next point."Under the Equality Act 2010, it is unlawful for someone to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief (or because you have no religion or belief)". Bearing in mind that you wish to promote the ideals of the faith onto young people I would like to point out that rule 4.1 states "Broadcasters must exercise the proper degree of responsibility with respect to the content of programmes which are religious programmes". This means that if you are to promote these views especially on young people it would be good if you reviewed your content before showing it publicly. This is a concern but only because I am not clear on how you plan to do this as rule 4.4 of the OFCOM section on Religion states "Religious programmes must not seek to promote religious views or beliefs by stealth".
Also I did notice a few issues regarding the brief used in the Job advertisement the first being that planning and making a short documentary for a company the applicant isn't even working for is a bit suspect. First being that the potential employer is not entitled to employee rights or insurance in case of an accident while making the short. This includes risk assessments and also the fact that the applicant is under 30 meaning that they might not have had much experience of this meaning they are more prone to problems. The documentary and the way it will be presented also raised concerns for me."Produce a short documentary that can be shown to children at a high school". For example the fact that the documentary sheds light on such a controversial subject that being rape, I find it hard that you wish to present this to a young audience including the use of actors for reconstructions and also using actual people talking about their experience. This is a social concern for sure and should be looked at again to avoid any problems that will arise such as privacy issues and also the fact that your making use of Vulnerable people, it would do well for you to review OFCOM section 8 - Privacy codes and rules. The BBFC age certification guidelines state that a 12a for example means "no promotion of potentially dangerous behaviour" and "Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed" This is something that I doubt will happen if you are portraying rape and rape victims. This is similar in a 15 plus for example as "Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail". Its also important to point out the fact that a age rated 15 means "A sustained
focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable." So this basically means that this documentary would have to be rated an 18 meaning it would be difficult to show to school children. I would also like to point out that you mentioned "Female victims and male offenders" in your brief, I cant help feel that you have made a generalisation that all males are offenders for example although they are in the majority, however both sides must be shown. Lastly your mention of a "Popular music soundtrack" brought up the issue of copyright as for each track used the applicant would have to clear the usage and get permission and i doubt £20 would be sufficient to cover this. In addition it would also mean getting a clear indication on if or not you plan to take the applicants work and use it for any other purposes.
Last point I wish to make regarding this would be that I noticed an exclusivity issue at the end of the advert. This being that the applicant can not apply to other positions if successful, "Exclusivity clauses prevent an individual from working for another employer, even when no work is guaranteed. The use of exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts undermines choice and flexibility for the individuals concerned" that quote is taken from a report published on the 25th of June 2014. With the hours given and the fact they are broad I would in that situation look for other work as I would be unsure if I could pay bills on time for example due to the broad hours and salary provided in the advert.
I look forward to hearing back from you soon.
Yours Sincerely
Louie Baker
Sources Used:
Equal Pay - http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights/equal-rights/gender/sex-discrimination-your-rights-at-work/equal-pay/equal-pay-your-rights
Age discrimination - http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1841
Religious views - http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/your-rights/equal-rights/religion-and-belief
Exclusivity Clause info - https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-crackdown-on-zero-hours-contract-abusers
BBFC Age Certification-
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202014_0.pdf
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