Sec. 31-131a. Conduct of business. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 31-131a. Conduct of business. (a) No licensed person shall impose any fee for registration or exact a fee from any applicant except for employment obtained directly through the effort of such agency.

      (b) No person shall display, on any sign or window or in any publication, the name "The Connecticut Free Public Employment Bureau", or a name similar thereto.

      (c) No licensed person shall charge any fee except in accordance with the agency's schedule of fees which is on file with the commissioner. Such schedule of fees may be changed by an agency only after fifteen days' notice of submission of rates by registered or certified mail in writing to the commissioner.

      (d) No owner, officer or employee of an agency shall divide, or offer to divide, directly or indirectly, any fee charged or received with any person who secures workers through such agency, or to whom workers are referred by such agency.

      (e) No fee may be exacted by the agency from an applicant who has obtained work with an employer to whom he was referred by an agency unless such applicant obtains such work within six calendar months following his last referral to that employer by the agency, or has voluntarily renewed his application immediately prior to expiration of the stated period; but this provision shall not apply to those professional, executive or technical classifications which require for proper performance of the work either extensive experience and education or experience of such scope and character as to require a longer period of exploration for job placement and the applicants for which indicate, upon application, that a fee shall be payable if such applicant obtains work with an employer to whom he was referred by the agency within one year of his last referral to such employer by the agency. Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting the charging by a nurses' registry of a single, annual fee in lieu of a separate charge for each engagement supplied, provided that amount of any fee paid which exceeds ten per cent of the remuneration earned through the services of the registry shall be returned on demand.

      (f) No licensed person shall send any applicant for employment to a place where a strike or lockout exists without furnishing such applicant with a written statement as to the existence of such strike or lockout, a copy of which, signed by the applicant, shall be kept on file for one year after the date thereof.

      (g) No such licensed person shall send or cause to be sent any help to a place of bad repute, house of ill-fame or assignation house or to a house or place of amusement kept for immoral purposes.

      (h) No such licensed person shall publish or cause to be published any false or fraudulent notice or advertisement or knowingly give any false information concerning the character of the prospective job, length of employment, hours or salary or make any false promise relating to work or employment to anyone who registers for employment.

      (i) No such licensed person shall make any false entries in the records kept by him.

      (j) No such licensed person shall publish or cause to be published any notice or advertisement relating to employment which does not include the following identification: The trade name of the agency and the words "FEE PAID" if there is no charge to the applicant for employment; the trade name of the agency, and the words "APPLICANT PAID" if there is a charge to the applicant for employment.

      (P.A. 73-461, S. 5, 8; P.A. 83-10; P.A. 84-501, S. 2.)

      History: P.A. 83-10 added Subsec. (j) prohibiting any licensed person from publishing any notice relating to employment which does not identify the licensee as an employment agency; P.A. 84-501 amended Subsec. (j) to require the agency to state in any advertisement for employment its trade name and whether the fee is paid by the employer or the applicant.