Sec. 31-130. Licenses; application, bond, fees, location, qualifications; temporary license, exemptions; registration.

(a) No person shall open, keep or carry on any employment agency unless he procures a license from the Labor Commissioner authorizing the licensee to open, keep or carry on such agency at a designated place. Application for such license or for renewal annually of such license shall be on forms prescribed and furnished by the commissioner and shall be accompanied by a bond, as hereinafter described, copies of all forms to be used in the conduct of the agency, a schedule of fees to be charged and a fee of one hundred fifty dollars for each year. Any license applicant refused a license shall have his fee refunded. The fee for an original application or renewal shall be prorated at the rate of twenty-five per cent thereof for each full three-month period or part thereof remaining between the date of such application and the May first next ensuing. Any license issued on and after July 1, 1973, shall expire on the May first next following the date thereof, unless sooner revoked by the Labor Commissioner. Any license in effect on July 1, 1973, shall continue in effect until its date of expiration.

(b) The Labor Commissioner may issue a temporary license to any person licensed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section to operate an employment agency at a place other than that designated in said license issued pursuant to subsection (a) upon the filing by said licensee with the Labor Commissioner of an application on forms provided therefor with no additional fee or additional bond. Such temporary license shall be valid only for the place and period designated by the Labor Commissioner. Such license may be issued, in the discretion of the Labor Commissioner, for premises otherwise prohibited by subsection (g) of this section upon good cause shown and upon such conditions as he shall set forth.

(c) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply (1) to any temporary help service, to any nonprofit registry conducted by incorporated individual alumni associations or registered nurses or to any registry conducted by a hospital for private duty placement of nurses employed by such hospital or (2) to any person engaged in the business of procuring or offering to procure employees for persons seeking the services of employees or supplying employees to render services where a fee or other valuable thing is exacted, charged or received from the employer for procuring or assisting to procure or supplying such employees, except as provided in subsection (i) of this section.

(d) Every applicant for an employment agency license shall file with the Labor Commissioner a written application stating the name and address of the applicant; the street and the number of the building in which the business of the employment agency is to be conducted; the name of the person who is to have the responsibility for the general management of the office; and the name under which the business of the office is to be carried on. The application shall be signed by the applicant and sworn to before a notary public and shall identify anyone holding a twenty per cent interest therein. If the applicant is a corporation, the application shall state the names and addresses of each of the officers, directors and anyone holding a twenty per cent interest therein and shall be signed and sworn to by the president and secretary thereof. If the applicant is a partnership, the application shall state the names and addresses of all partners therein and shall be signed and sworn to by all of them. The application shall also state whether or not the applicant or any person required to be identified by this section is, at the time of making the application, or has been at any previous time, engaged in or had an interest in or been employed by anyone engaged in the business of an employment agency. Each application shall be accompanied by affidavits of at least three creditable citizens who reside in the state on behalf of each person required to be identified by this section together with the fingerprints of each such person.

(e) Each person shall file with his application for a license a bond to the state in the penal sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars, with surety approved by the commissioner. Such bond shall be conditioned that the obligor shall comply with every provision of this chapter and every regulation or order issued thereunder and shall pay any loss or damage occasioned to any person by reason of such failure to comply. Any person suffering loss or damage by reason of the failure of an employment agency to comply with any provision of this chapter or any regulation or order issued thereunder shall be entitled to recover on such bond for the amount of such loss or damage. Action may be brought on such bond in the name of the state by any person suffering such loss or damage or by the commissioner for the use of such person; provided suit shall be commenced within ninety days after demand made upon the employment agency.

(f) Prior to the initial issuance of an employment agency license the person who is to have the responsibility for the general management of the office shall demonstrate to the Labor Commissioner that he has sufficient knowledge of laws and regulations applicable to employment agencies and to employment discrimination. Any person certified by the National Employment Association in the state as a certified employment consultant or any person licensed prior to July 1, 1973, shall be deemed to have fulfilled the requirements of this subsection. The licensee shall notify the commissioner promptly of any changes of the persons licensed and of any material change in the ownership or operation of the agency.

(g) Such applications shall be examined by the commissioner, who may request additional information, and, if he finds that the same complies with the law and that the applicant and those identified in subsection (d) of this section are of good moral character and are qualified to receive a license, he shall issue a license to the applicant or applicants upon the payment of the license fee. Each license shall contain a designation of the city, the street, the building and the number of the room or suite in which the person licensed intends to carry on such employment agency and the number and date of such license. Such agencies shall be conducted in offices suitable for such purpose, which shall be approved by said commissioner before the issuance of a license. Such premises shall provide for the availability of one private office for conducting confidential interviews where requested by an applicant. No license shall be granted to a person to conduct the business of an employment agency in rooms used for living purposes, in rooms where boarders or lodgers are kept, in rooms where meals are served, in rooms where persons sleep or in rooms where intoxicating liquors are sold to be consumed on the premises.

(h) Each license issued hereunder shall be valid only as to the person and place named therein, and such place may be changed only upon approval of the commissioner and endorsement of the new location on the license. Such license shall be effective from the date specified therein and shall remain in effect until the May first next following the date thereof unless sooner cancelled.

(i) No person shall engage in the business of procuring or offering to procure employees for persons seeking the services of employees or supplying employees to render services where a fee or other valuable thing is exacted, charged or received from the employer for procuring or assisting to procure or supplying such employees unless he registers with the Labor Commissioner. Application for such registration or for the annual renewal of such registration shall be on forms furnished by the commissioner and shall be accompanied by a fee of one hundred fifty dollars.

(1949 Rev., S. 3782; 1959, P.A. 640, S. 2; 1971, P.A. 870, S. 124; P.A. 73-461, S. 2, 8; P.A. 77-47; P.A. 81-84, S. 1–3; P.A. 89-128, S. 2.)

History: 1959 act provided for renewal of license biennially, rather than annually, increased license fee, increased bond requirement, required verification and affidavits with application and added provisions limiting validity of license to person and place named, clarifying period during which license is effective, setting forth commissioner's power to cancel license and the procedure for doing so, clarifying conditions of bond and procedure to recover on bonds, requiring the keeping of records and prohibiting divisions of fees between agencies and persons securing workers through them; 1971 act divided section into Subsecs. and replaced superior court with court of common pleas in Subsec. (b), effective September 1, 1971, except that courts with cases pending retain jurisdiction unless pending matters deemed transferable; P.A. 73-461 required annual, rather than biennial, renewal of license, deleted provisions re verification and affidavits, validity and effective period of license, contents of license and requirements for offices in which business is to be located and added provisions re refund of fee or prorated fees and interim renewals until switch from biennial to annual renewal is effected in Subsec. (a), replaced Subsec. (b) re cancellation of license and procedure for doing so with provisions re temporary licenses, inserted new Subsecs. (c) and (d) re applicability of chapter and contents of application, relettered former Subsec. (c) as (e) and raised bond from $2,500 to $5,000, deleted former Subsecs. (d) and (e) re required records and prohibition of fee division and inserted new Subsecs. (f) to (h); P.A. 77-47 extended exemption in Subsec. (c) to registries conducted by hospitals for private duty placement of their nurses; P.A. 81-84 increased the annual fee in Subsec. (a) from $75 to $150 and the required bond in Subsec. (e) from $5,000 to $7,500 and changed expiration date of licenses from the first Tuesday of May to May first; P.A. 89-128 amended Subsec. (c) to provide that employment agencies which are engaged in the business of procuring employees for employers and which receive their fees from the employer are not required to be licensed and added Subsec. (i) requiring such agencies to register with the labor commissioner.

Notation

See Sec. 31-134a re procurement of out-of-state domestic employees.

When license is required. 30 CS 544.

Subsec. (i):

Evident purpose of statutory scheme is to protect prospective employees, not employers, from unscrupulous tactics of employment agencies. 68 CA 61.