EMPLOYMENT AGENCY ACT, 1971

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE CONTROL AND REGULATION BY THE MINISTER FOR LABOUR OF EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES, TO MAKE PROVISION RELATING TO THE SEEKING OF PERSONS FOR EMPLOYMENT OUTSIDE THE STATE, AND TO PROVIDE FOR OTHER MATTERS CONNECTED WITH THE MATTERS AFORESAID. [24th November, 1971.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:

1. Interpretation.

1.—(1) In this Act—

“authorised officer” has the meaning assigned to it by section 9 of this Act;

F1[“employment agency” includes an employment agency within the meaning of the Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012;]

“the Minister” means the Minister for Labour;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act.

• (2) For the purposes of this Act, the business of an employment agency means the business of seeking, whether for reward or otherwise, on behalf of others, persons who will give or accept employment, and includes the obtaining or supplying for reward of persons who will accept employment from or render services to others.

2. General prohibition on unlicensed employment agencies.

2.—A person shall not carry on the business of an employment agency except under and in accordance with a licence under this Act.

3. Provisions regarding licence.

3.—(1) A person proposing to carry on the business of an employment agency shall apply to the Minister for a licence under this Act, and shall cause to be published in not less than one daily newspaper circulating in the State a notice in the prescribed form of his intention so to apply.

• (2) An application for a licence under this Act shall—

• (a) be made in the prescribed form,

• (b) contain the prescribed particulars, and

• (c) be accompanied by the prescribed fee.

• (3) Where an application is made for a licence under this Act, the Minister shall grant the licence if—

• (a) he is satisfied that the premises conform to the prescribed standards of accommodation,

• (b) he is satisfied that the applicant conforms to the prescribed standards of suitability and fitness, and

• (c) the applicant has not been convicted of an offence under this Act in the period of 5 years ending on the date of the application.

• (4) The Minister may prescribe the standards of accommodation in respect of premises for use for the business of an employment agency and the standards of suitability and fitness which he considers requisite in respect of an applicant for a licence under this Act.

• (5) A licence under this Act shall be in the prescribed form and shall be subject to such conditions as the Minister specifies in the licence.

4. Revocation of licence.

4.—Where the holder of a licence under this Act has been convicted of an offence under this Act or has given false information in an application under section 3 of this Act or where in the opinion of the Minister—

• (a) the holder is no longer a suitable person to carry on the business of an employment agency, or

• (b) the premises where the holder is carrying on the business of an employment agency no longer conform to the prescribed standards,

the Minister may revoke the licence.

5. Appeals against revocation of licence and refusal to grant licence.

5.—(1) Where the Minister proposes to revoke a licence under this Act, he shall duly notify the holder of the licence of his proposal, and the holder may appeal to the High Court against the Minister's proposal.

• (2) Where the Minister refuses to grant a licence under this Act to an applicant for such a licence, he shall notify the applicant within 21 days of his decision, and the applicant may appeal to the High Court against the Minister's decision.

• (3) On the hearing of an appeal under this section in relation to a proposal to revoke, or a refusal to grant, a licence the High Court may either confirm the proposal or refusal or allow the appeal and, where an appeal is allowed, the Minister, as may be appropriate, shall not revoke the licence or shall grant the licence.

• (4) A decision of the High Court on an appeal under this section shall be final save that, by leave of that Court, an appeal from that decision shall lie to the Supreme Court on a specified question of law.

6. Non-application of Act.

6.—(1) This Act shall not apply to—

• (a) any scheme or service relating to employment or the recruitment of staff and administered or operated by or under the direction of a Minister of State,

• F2[(b) the holder of a recruitment licence under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004.]

• (2) The Minister may, if he so thinks fit, by order grant exemption from this Act or a specified provision thereof in respect of the carrying on of the business of a particular class of employment agency.

• (3) The Minister may by order revoke or amend an order under this section.

7. Fees, etc., of agencies.

7.—(1) A person carrying on the business of an employment agency shall not charge any fees or expenses, in respect of services rendered in the course of the business, in excess of a scale approved by the Minister, and shall prepare and submit to the Minister as may be required for the purposes of this section a scale of such fees and expenses.

• (2) A person carrying on the business of an employment agency shall not charge any fee solely for agreeing to seek employment for another person or solely for agreeing to seek persons who will give or accept employment.

8. General power to make regulations.

8.—(1) The Minister may make regulations for giving effect to this Act and generally for controlling and supervising the carrying on of employment agencies.

• (2) Regulations under this section may, without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, provide for all or any of the following matters—

• (a) requiring a person carrying on an employment agency to keep records of the business conducted by the agency and of such other matters as may be prescribed;

• (b) prescribing the form of such records and the entries to be made in them;

• (c) requiring a person carrying on an employment agency to furnish to the Minister annual returns and, at such times and in such manner as may be specified, such other information as he may from time to time require;

• (d) the prevention of fraud in the carrying on of the business of employment agency;

• (e) the safeguarding of moneys received by employment agencies for and on behalf of persons employing such agencies;

• (f) requiring the display in premises of employment agencies of licences under this Act granted in respect of the premises, of scales of fees and expenses approved thereunder and of such other notices as may be prescribed;

• (g) requiring holders of licences under this Act to obtain, keep and (if so required) produce to the Minister in advance of seeking persons for employment outside the State evidence of the authority of such holders to act on behalf of persons offering such employment and information relating to the terms of such employment;

• (h) requiring, in the case of a notice in a publication published in the State seeking a person for employment outside the State or offering to obtain employment outside the State for a citizen of the State residing in the State, the inclusion in the notice of the name and address of the person outside the State seeking a person for or offering employment or the name and address of the holder of a licence under this Act;

• (i) requiring, in the case of an employment agency seeking persons under the age of 18 for employment outside the State or offering to obtain employment outside the State for citizens of the State under the age of 18 years and residing in the State, such information as may be specified in the regulations relating to the employment outside the State.

9. Power of entry inspection, etc.

9.—(1) The Minister may appoint such and so many persons as he thinks fit to be authorised officers for the purposes of this Act.

• (2) Every authorised officer shall be furnished with a warrant of his appointment as an authorised officer and, when exercising any power conferred on an authorised officer by this section shall, if requested by any person affected, produce the warrant to that person.

• (3) An authorised officer may at all reasonable times—

• (a) enter and inspect any premises in which the business of an employment agency is being carried on or in respect of which an application under section 3 of this Act has been made,

• (b) inspect such books and records relating to the business of an employment agency as are required to be kept under this Act, and, where he has reasonable grounds for believing that this Act is being or has been contravened, take copies of any entries in such books or records,

• (c) require any person carrying on the business of an employment agency or proposing to do so to furnish him with such information as he may reasonably require in order to ascertain whether or not the agency is being or is likely to be conducted in accordance with this Act.

• (4) A person shall not—

• (a) obstruct or impede an authorised officer in the exercise of any of the powers conferred by this section;

• (b) fail or refuse to give to an authorised officer on demand any information which the officer is entitled to demand under this section, or

• (c) give to an authorised officer information which the person knows to be false or misleading in a material particular.

10. Offences.

10.—(1) Where a person contravenes this Act or any regulation thereunder he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding F3[€2,000] and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding F3[€1,000] in respect of each day on which the offence is continued.

• (2) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any wilful neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary, or other officer of the body corporate, the director, manager, secretary or other officer shall also be deemed to be guilty of the offence.

11. Laying of regulations before Houses of Oireachtas.

11.—Every regulation made under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

12. Repeal.

12.—Section 85 of the Public Health Acts (Amendment) Act, 1907, is hereby repealed.

13. Expenses, etc.

13.—(1) The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

• (2) Any moneys received by the Minister under this Act shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

14. Commencement.

14.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister appoints by order.

15. Short title.

15.—This Act may be cited as the Employment Agency Act, 1971.