Letter Of Complaint

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you today in regards of the Digital Video Production job advert in which my attention has been drawn to. I thought it would be in the best interests of both of us that I bring to your attention that there are many elements of this job advert which do not comply with the Equality Act that was implemented in 2010, so I am writing this letter to you to raise my concerns with these issues. Some of these parts include: age discrimination , this can be seen in the 'looking for' section of the advert, furthermore, there is a also a clear example of religious discrimination in the 'religious views' section of the advert. A contract should be a piece of material you sign to agree to a job in which has to be enforced by the law if there is any breach in the contract. Due to this it concerns me that there is no sign of anything whatsoever regarding confidentiality on your advert. Continuing on,  the advert states that I need to hand my application into the front desk in Norwich or via Email, this is all well and good, other than the fact that due to no confidentiality agreement my information could quite easily be shared which is a big concern to me. I personally expect that when applying for a job role my private information to be kept secret, but with this application there is no guarantee of this.  Also, there is no sign of an exclusivity clause in the contract, meaning that if I am successful in my application  then I could quite easily just join another one of your competitors? There should always be an exclusivity clause in a contract which would not allow me to work for other companies in the same industry or share information with them which would potentially harm your company.

The Equality Act of 2010 incorporated previous equality acts of parliament into one single piece of legislation, it includes:

The Equal Pay Act 1970
Sex Discrimination Act 1975
Race Relations Act 1975
Disability Discrimination Act 1995
Employment Equality (religion of belief) Regulations 2003
Employment Equality (sex orientation) Regulations 2003
Employment Equality (age) Regulations 2006

Incorporating this information into a singular document allowed the public to find out if they have been discriminated against and also made it easier for lawyers and trade unions to find out if the individual has been exploited against for legal cases.

The problem with discrimination is the fact that there are many different ways people can face it. A key example of this is simply: direct discrimination, this  is where the employees are treated worse by their employer due to the characteristics they possess, a key example of this in your job advert is the fact that you are only allowing applicants under the age of 30, this is a prime example of: ageism, which is sadly very common in the workplace in modern society, age shouldn't mean anything and neither should other variables, the best applicant should always receive the job regardless of their age, sex, religion or any disability they may have.
On the other hand, Indirect discrimination is where the applicant applies to everyone equally, however, has an unequal effect on these that have a certain characteristic. For example: A religious person may be at an unequal level due to the fact that they are unable to participate in certain things.  Indirect discrimination is evident in your job application as you say you want someone with Christian views but this is discrimination towards people who don’t have Christian views.

The employer's liability act ensures that employers are fully responsible for the health and safety of each and everyone of their employees whilst they are working for them. This was implemented in 1969, this covers employees if they happen to fall ill or get injured in their working environment. Continuing on, the Employee rights act of 1996 is implemented when an employee begins their work for a company, this has to include any health and safety problems the employee may have so that the employer can take them into account and try to cater for them in the best way possible. This helps to protect the employee from being exploited by their employer, in relation to your job advert, this sadly isn't the case, as their is no clear, written statement, therefore breaking the employment rights act of 1996, this is evident from this quote in your advert: "It sounds like a broad role because it is". Furthermore, each and every applicant has to film a short documentary before being selected during the interview process, this means that the employee rights act is not met as I will of technically had to of 'worked' for you and so would any other applicants without actually having the job, this is a breach of the employee liability act.

Continuing on, Trade Unions are in place to ensure that workers' rights are protected and that their employers are not exploiting them and making their working life a strenuous one.  These are in turn, very helpful when it comes to an employee wanting their rights and opinions backed up in a situation where they feel exploited. A key example of this is the fact that: Trade Unions can help in an example of religious discrimination, then the trade Union will step in and ensure that the employer puts things in place so that the employee can do their job the same as any other employee. The main Trade Union in the UK is BECTU or Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematography and Theatre Union.This Trade Union is supported by the people involved in it having to pay a subscription fee annually for their protection.

There are also codes of practice that are not specially part of the law, these are put into place to protect the employee and are used in both Film and Television, employers have to be responsible for putting these policies and procedures in place for each and every individual. Referring back to your job advert, you state that: 'No means no' in regards to your film. But you only want to hire teenagers and females that have been victims. Is this as if to say that males can't be affected by this? This represents rape culture in a very wrong and naive way by showing that it is only teenagers and females who can be affected when common knowledge itself dictates that isn't the truth. This is genuinely a huge social concern as you are putting such a horrible thing such as rape on the shoulders of only two categories of people.

The rape problems on show in your advert are also surrounded by many legal issues, there are regulators in place to enforce the law on broadcasting issues. The Broadcasting Act was implemented in 1990 which made it law that there has to be a regulatory body to enforce the law, the quote: "It shall be the function of the commission to regulate in accordance with the Broadcasting Act" shows this. This relates back to your advert, due to the fact that your advert is centred around rape, you say that: All High School Children can view it. This means that you're subjecting people as young as the age of 12 to the extreme subject that is rape, this is the exact definition of inappropriate and this puts under 18's at risk, something in which OFCOM are very, very serious about.

Here is some examples of how OFCOM deal with these scenarios:

1.1 Material that might seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of people under eighteen must not be broadcast.
Bu showing this type of footage of under age children it could seriously impair the mental and moral development of people under 18. This could paint the picture in these
1.2 In the provision of services, broadcasters must take all reasonable steps to protect people under eighteen. For television services, this is in addition to their obligations resulting from the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (in particular, Article 27, see Appendix 2)
1.3 Children must also be protected by appropriate scheduling from material that is unsuitable for them.
In the job advert it states you should use re-enactments, by doing this it’s possible that inappropriate footage may be used, this footage needs to be censored if possible otherwise it could be harming children hence them not being protected.  The reason for Ofcom to exist is due to the Communications Act 2003 which includes the regulation by which Ofcom can carry out their duties:

Ofcom's powers:
-  The power to undertake research and development work in connection with any matter in relation to which they have functions
- Power to institute and carry out criminal proceedings in England and Wales or Northern Ireland for an offence in relation to which they have functions.
By having this power it means that Ofcom can carry out and report any issues that may arise in relation to any of the functions that they have power in.


Moving on, The Obscene Publications Act of 1959 is an act in which provides protection of literature and strengthens the law, this reflects back to your job advert due to your advert featuring Pornography: In the form of re-enactments which is of a sexual nature which is breaking the obscene publications act, not to mention the graphic nature of the recreation of rape,

Another organisation that will be involved in this advert and the job following on from is is the: BBFC, this is due to the fact that they will have to certify the video that will be made to ensure that it fits the right agr category and protects people from watching content unsuited for themselves, In reality your video will quite possibly be a 15+ which leaves 3 years of your target audience unable to view it, although this could be avoided if you tuned down the sexual nature and subsequently got the viewing age to: PG

Finally, the advert states that the creator will be 'reimbursed up to £20 for the cost of goods'. This is a ludicrously low amount all things considered, this could force creators to have to break copyright laws to receive  the  job to cut costs down by downloading copyrighted music.

I hope you will take into account the points I raised here with you today and look to change your advert swiftly.


Best Regards,

Ellis Platten