Preview of Article - Gareth Williams, Penn Legal
Are Job Boards regulated as Agencies?
The legal status of a Job Board, in particular whether it is an ëagencyí as defined in The Employment Agencies Act 1973 (ëthe Actí), and, if so, whether it needs to comply with all the requirements of The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (ëthe Regulationsí) has never been addressed by the Courts and is subject to a great deal of debate within the online recruitment industry. Resolving this issue is crucial since it goes to the heart of the legal obligations imposed upon Job Boards.
There is widespread concern that the requirements of the Regulations would be difficult, if not practically impossible, for Job Boards to comply with ñ hence the apparent eagerness of some Job Boards to believe that the Regulations may not apply. Yet this overstates the actual effect of the Regulations, which, upon close examination, are easier to navigate than widely believed. So what do we mean by an ëagencyí and what is the relevance of this question to Job Boards?
Meaning of an ëagencyí
The Act defines an employment agency (ëagencyí) as:
ìÖthe business (whether or not carried on with a view to profit and whether or not carried on in conjunction with any other business) of providing services (whether by the provision of information or otherwise) for the purpose of finding persons employment with employers or of supplying employers with persons for employment by themî.
The scope and effect of this definition has led to uncertainty within the online recruitment industry, of particular interest is the question as to whether a ëJob Boardí satisfies the definition of an agency.
By a ëJob Boardí we mean a website that posts employment vacancies for clients with a view to candidates making applications (normally routed via the website) to the client for the client to consider as to suitability for the position. Candidatesí applications are subject to electronic filtration, the skill of a recruitment consultant is not used to match the candidate to the clientís requirement. In this respect a Job Board is distinct from a normal ëOnline Recruiterí, which useís the skills of a recruitment consultant to match candidates to the clientís requirements.
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Preview of Article - Gareth Williams, Penn Legal
Are Job Boards regulated as Agencies?
