I am in a dilemma and don't know what to do. We are looking to employ a caretaker. My husband used to be the caretaker but due to his alcoholism, depression & anxiety he relapsed after 2 years of sobriety and did something stupid out of work which he was arrested for. He resigned his position to protect the charity. Since then he has received a suspended sentence with rehabilitation requirements. I went to the board to ask for their opinion on him returning with safeguarding measurements and they had a closed meeting to discuss. It came back that they wanted to check with our HR company and they assigned this to the Chair of our Trustees board. 

Unfortunately this Trustee does not like my husband (I don’t know why). So when she has spoken to the HR Company she has not provided all the facts and now it feels like a vendetta. I know that the HR Advisor will have asked her what outcome she wanted, so the advice given doesn't reflect what the truth of the matter is and she is saying we shouldn't interview him. My problem is that she is discriminating against him before he has even applied.

I believe that rather that dealing with the individual, they should be looking at the recruitment policy on how we should respond to someone with a unspent conviction and what process we agree on.

This is not the first time she has undermined me. I feel so demotivated, upset and angry and I’m considering leaving after nearly 10 years. The whole process goes against the nature of the charity. We are supposed to support people but this goes against everything we have built up. All the staff keep asking when is she leaving as they do not see anything positive from her.