PART IIDISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING
Employment agencies, careers guidance etc20
1
It is unlawful for an employment agency to discriminate against a person –
a
in the terms on which the agency offers to provide any of its services;
b
by refusing or deliberately not providing any of its services; or
c
in the way it provides any of its services.
2
It is unlawful for an employment agency, in relation to a person to whom it provides its services, or who has requested it to provide its services, to subject that person to harassment.
3
Paragraph (1) does not apply to discrimination if it only concerns employment which, by virtue of regulation 8 (exception for genuine occupational requirement etc), the employer could lawfully refuse to offer the person in question.
4
An employment agency shall not be subject to any liability under this regulation if it proves that –
a
it acted in reliance on a statement made to it by the employer to the effect that, by reason of the operation of paragraph (3), its action would not be unlawful, and
b
it was reasonable for it to rely on the statement.
5
A person who knowingly or recklessly makes a statement such as is referred to in paragraph (4)(a) which in a material respect is false or misleading commits an offence, and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.
6
For the purposes of this regulation –
a
“employment agency” means a person who, for profit or not, provides services for the purpose of finding employment for workers or supplying employers with workers, but it does not include –
i
an educational establishment to which regulation 22 (institutions of further and higher education) applies, or would apply but for the operation of any other provision of these Regulations, or
ii
a school; and
b
references to the services of an employment agency include guidance on careers and any other services related to employment.