Whatever your views on the public sector it was once a major employer and so had the power to impose a minimum wage and a non discriminatory employment practice. Local authorities aimed to be model employers, not just to stay within the law but follow the spirit of the law unlike many private sector companies who seek to find their way round the law. We have seen this in the private sector's approach to paying tax and in the use of zero hours contracts of employment. The most recent example is in attitudes to employing young women. In a survey of 500 managers by the firm Slayer & Gordon, more than 40% admitted they would hire a man in preference to a woman of childbearing age or a women with young children due to issues of maternity leave and child care. The study also showed that a third of managers claimed that women are not as good at their jobs when they come back from maternity leave.
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