IX. EMPLOYMENT AGENTS: PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT AGENCY LAW Who is an Employment Agent. Section 2394-82. The term "employment agent" shall mean and include all persons, firms, corporations or associations engaged in the business of furnishing to persons seeking employment, information enabling or tending to enable such persons to secure the same, or furnishing employers seeking laborers or other help of any kind, information enabling or tending to enable such employers to secure such help, or keeping a register of persons seeking employment or help as aforesaid. No person, Misrepresentation Prohibited. Section 2394-83. firm, association or corporation, or any employee or agent thereor, shall make any false statement to any person furnishing or seeking employment, knowing the same to be false, in regard to any employment, work or situation, its nature, location, duration, wages or salary attached thereto, or the circumstances surrounding the said employment, work or situation. No employment agent shall offer or hold himself out as in a position to secure or furnish employment without having an order therefor from an employer; and no employment agent shall misrepresent any other material matter in connection with any employment, work or situation he may offer or hold himself out in a position to secure. Duties of all Employment Agents. Section 2394-84. Every employment agent shall assure himself beyond a reasonable doubt that any representations whatsoever, whether spoken, written or advertised in printed form, which he makes with regard to any employment, work or situation, and which leads or may lead persons to seek such employment, work or situation, are true and cover all the material facts affecting the employment in question. Splitting fees with Employers Unlawful. Section 2394-85. No employment agent or any employee or agent thereof, shall divide or offer to divide, or share directly or indirectly, any fee, charge or compensation received from any applicant for employment, with any employer, superintendent, manager, foreman, or any other person who hires help or to whom help is furnished by an employment agent; and it shall be unlawful for any employer, superintendent, manager, foreman, or any other person who hires help to receive any compensation or any valuable consideration from any applicant for employment or from any employment agent for giving employ 1 The provisions of the statutes relating to public employment bureaus are contained in sub-sections (9) and (9a) of section 2394-52 and sub-section 2 of section 2057, which are included in the Industrial Commission Law pages 1-15. ment to said applicant or any employees furnished by said employment agent. What Employment Agents Must be Licensed. Section 2394-86. No person, firm, corporation or association shall engage in the business of an employment agent for profit, or receive any fee, charge, commission or other compensation, directly or indirectly, for services as an employment agent without first having obtained a license from the Industrial Commission of Wisconsin and executing a bond as hereinafter provided. Said license shall constitute a license from this state to operate as an employment agent for compensation and shall not be transferable to any other person or persons whatever, or inure to the benefit of any person other than the li censee. How to Get a License. Section 2394-87. Application for the foregoing license shall be made to the industrial commission and shall be accompanied by a bond in due form to the state of Wisconsin for the penal sum of one thousand dollars issued by a surety company licensed to do business in this state to be approved by the industrial commission, conditioned that the agent will conform to and not violate any of the duties, terms, conditions or requirements of sections 2394-82 to 2394-95, inclusive, of the statutes. Cost of License. Section 2394-88. The said license shall be renewed annually and the fee for the same shall be graded as follows: (1) In cities of 30,000 and over, every employment agent supplying female help exclusively shall pay fifty dollars per annum. All other employment agents shall pay one hundred dollars per annum. (2) In all other cities the fee for employment agents dealing exclusively with female help shall be ten dollars, and for all other employment agents, it shall be twenty-five dollars. The said fees shall be paid to the Industrial Commission and shall be transferred by it to the general fund of the state treasury within one week of receipt. Industrial Commission to Enforce Law. Section 2394-89. The industrial commission is vested with the power and jurisdiction to have such supervision of every employment agent as may be necessary adequately to enforce and administer all laws and iawful orders designed to prevent fraud, misrepresentations, false statements, or other unauthorized acts of such employment agent. Section 2394-90. Any commissioner or deputy of the commission may enter any employment office or the place of business of any employment agent for the purpose of collecting facts and statistics, examining the records or registers kept by such employment agent, and bringing to the attention of such agent any law or any order of the commission, or any failure on the part of such employment agent to comply therewith. No employment agent shall refuse to admit any commissioner or deputy of the commission to his place of business. Section 2394-91. Any employment agent receiving from the commission any blanks calling for information required by it to carry into effect the provisions of sections 2394-82 to 2394-95, inclusive, of the statutes, with directions to fill the same, shall cause the same to be properly filled out so as to answer fully and correctly each question therein propounded, and in case he is unable to answer any question, he shall give a good and sufficient reason for such failure, and said answer shall be verified by two witnesses, and returned to the commission at its office within the period fixed by the commission. Regulation of Fees and Charges. Section 2394-92. Every applicant for a license to engage in the business of an employment agent shall file with the commission, within a time fixed by the commission, a schedule of the fees or charges made by such employment agent both to applicants for employment and for help for any services rendered to such applicants, together with all rules or regulations that may, in any manner, affect the fees charged or to be charged for any service. No license shall be issued to such applicant, unless such fees and such rules or regulations are reasonable. Such fees and such rules or regulat ons may be changed only with the approval of the industrial commission and when changed shall be filed with such commission. It shall be unlawful for any employment agent to charge, demand, collect or receive a greater compensation for any service performed by him than is specified in the schedule filed with the commission, and no employment agent shall charge a registration fee without permission from the industrial commission. Special Regulations for Employment Bureaus for Women. Section 2394-92m. 1. Every person managing or operating any employment bureau for women, in this state, shall make and file in his office application cards to be signed by any applicant for help, on which shall be stated the business of the place to which an employe is to be furnished, the nature of the work to be performed by the employe, and the wages to be paid. 2. No such licensed person shall knowingly send or cause to be sent any female help, servant, inmate, performer, or any other person to enter any questionable place of bad repute, house of ill fame or assignation house, or to any place of amusement in which inmoral practices are permitted, or place resorted to for the purpose of prostitution, or any gambling house, the character of which such places the licensing person knows either directly or by reputation or which he might obtain by reasonable effort. 3. No such licensed person shall knowingly permit any questionable character, prostitute, gambler, intoxicated person or procurer to frequent such agency. 4. Every such licensed person shall keep a permanent record and index with names and post-office addresses of all persons placed in service by him, with reference to the facts contained in the application, which record shall be open to the inspection of the officers of the law and the parent or guardian of such person. When Licenses May be Issued, Refused, and Revoked. Section 2394-93. It shall be the duty of the industrial commission, and it shall have power, jurisd.ction and authority to issue licenses o employment agents, and to refuse to issue such license whenever, after due investigation, the commission or a majority of the members thereof finds that the character of the applicant makes him unfit to be an employment agent, or when the premises for conducting the business of an employment agent is found upon investigation to be unfit for such use, or whenever, upon investigation by the commission, it is found and determined that the number of licensed employment agents or that the employment agency operated by the United States, the state or by the municipality or by two or more thereof jointly in the community in which the applicant for a permit purposes to operate is sufficient to supply the needs of employers and employes. Any such license granted by the commission may also be revoked by it upon due notice to the holder of said license, and upon due cause shown. Failure to comply with the duties, terms, conditions or provisions of sections 2394-82 to 2394-95, inclusive, of the statutes, or with any lawful orders of the commission, shall be deemed due cause to revoke such license. Industrial Commission May Make Rules for Conduct of Employment Agencies. Section 2394-94. The commission shall have power, jurisdiction and authority to fix and order such reasonable rules for the conduct of the business of any employment agent as may be necessary adequately to carry out sections 2394-82 to 2394 -95, inclusive, of the statutes; to ascertain and fix reasonable classifications of employments or positions and to fix a reasonable scale of fees to be charged by said employment agent or agents for each such classification under the restrictions contained in sections 2394-82 to 2394-95, inclusive, of the statutes, and fix reasonable classifications of the business of employment agents, and to make its rules and orders conform to such classifications. It may prescribe the form of books, registers or records to be kept by the employment agent, the receipts or copies of contracts to be handed to persons referred to employment, the reports to be made to the commission, the refunds to be made to applicants who failed to secure employment; and it may order any other measures reasonably necessary to protect the public, or persons seeking employment, or employers seeking help, against fraud, misrepresentation, or any other unauthorized act of any employment agent. Section General Powers of Commission Applicable; Penalties. 2394-95. Such investigations, classifications and orders, and any action, proceeding, or suit to set aside, vacate, or amend any such order of said commission, or to enjoin the enforcement thereof, shall be made pursuant to the proceeding in sections 2394-41 to 2394-70, inclusive, of the statutes, which are hereby made a part hereof, so far as not inconsistent with the provisions of sections 2394-82 to 2394-95, inclusive, of the statutes, and every order of the said commission shall have the same force and effect as the orders issued pursuant to said sections 2394-41 to 2394-70, inclusive, of the statutes; and the penalties therein shall apply to and be imposed for any violation of sections 2394-82, 2394-83, 2394-84, 2394-85, 2394-86, 2394-87, 2394-88, 2394-89, 2394-90, 2394-91, 2394-92, 2394-93, 2394-94, and 2394-95, of the statutes. FARM LABOR PLACEMENTS Section 2394-96. The clerk of every city, town and village, in which there is no licensed or public employment agency as provided in section 2394-86 of the statutes, shall solicit, receive and record applications of persons seeking employment on farms for any period of time, and of persons desiring to employ such labor, and every such employer shall pay to any such clerk twenty-five cents for each time he assists in furnishing such labor. The clerk of every city, town and village, serving under the terms of this act, shall, on or before the first day of each month, report all placements made by him to the industrial commission, to be by them compiled as part of the general employment statistics of the state. EMPLOYMENT AGENCY RULES Adopted by the Industrial Commission Pursuant to section 2394-94 Part I. Rules Applying to All Employment Agencies. 1. Statement to be Filed. All employment agents whether charg ing fees for their services or not shall file with the Industrial commission a statement giving the following information: Name of Agency Located at In the City of Name of Owner If engaged in other business state nature of same If a partnership, names of members If a corporation, names of President, Secretary, Treasurer. No employ 2. Applicants not to be sent to places of bad repute. ment agent, whether licensed or unlicensed shall send or cause to be sent any help or person to any place of bad repute, house of ill fame or other place resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or gambling, the character of which might be ascertained by the employment agent on reasonable inquiry. No employment agent shall know.ngly permit any prostitute, gambler, intoxicated person, procurer or other bad character to enter or remain in the office or place of business of such employment agent. 3. Location of employment agencies. No employment agent shall locate his place of business in a saloon, or in connection with any premises where intoxicating liquors are sold; and the office or place of business of no employment agent shall be located in rooms where boarders are kept or where meals are served or persons sleep. 4. Records to be kept. All employment agents shall keep a register or record in a form approved by the Industrial Commission, of all accepted applications for employment and for help, of all persons referred to employers, whether they were hired or not. and if a fee has been paid the amount of such fee. 5. Reports to Industrial Commission. On the last day of every month every employment agent shall send to the Industrial commission at Madison a report, in such form as the commission may prescribe, giving the number of applications for employment and for help and the number of positions filled during that month by industries and occupations. 6. Written orders from employers. No employment agent shall offer or hold himself out as in a position to secure or furnish employment without having an order therefor from an employer .. (Section 2394-83). Every employment agent who sends an applicant for employment to apply for the same outside of the city in which the employment office is located shall have a written order from the employer giving his name and address, the number and the kind of workers wanted, the probable duration of the employment, the rate of wages, whether a strike is on at the place where the men are wanted and what the price of board and lodg |