Protecting the Hirer

In South Africa, staff employment is controlled by the Basic Conditions of
Employment Act7.
Since employers are legally responsible for ensuring the safety of their
workplace, they obviously want to know who they are hiring. This is one of the
reasons behind the upswing in demand for criminal record and credit checks.
Accordingly the Act permits potential employers to ask applicants if they have
criminal records and request details if the answer is yes. However, any decision
not to employ the candidate has to be related to the conviction.
In other words, the conviction must show that the person would constitute a
threat to the company. The law does not however allow prospective employers to
enquire about arrests that did not result in convictions and it also does not permit
questions on pending cases since in South Africa a person is presumed innocent
until proven guilty.