Representing recruitment agencies throughout the country, ERF Members aim to communicate their commitment to providing quality service by agreeing to abide by a strict Code of Conduct & Ethics.


The ERF Code of Conduct & Ethics is as follows:

1General
It is a condition of Membership that all Members, Member companies and employees engaged by them shall comply with the Code of Conduct of the Federation and by the rules and regulations outlines below and any conditions or amendments to these rules as approved by the Federation.
2Subscriptions
It is a condition of the Membership that the annual subscription and any levies agreed by the ERF are paid within 30 days of the date they fall due.
3Licensing
It is a condition of Membership that the individual, agency or company is properly licenced to operate as an employment agency within the terms of the Employment Agency Act 1971 and any amendments thereto.
4Applicant Handling / Confidentiality
  • Applicants must be treated in a courteous and dignified manner at all times. Under absolutely no circumstances will an applicant be bullied or coerced by a member company. Their right to privacy must be respected including their right to be interviewed in a private area in accordance with health & safety regulations. Regard must be had to the employment Equality Acts 1977 and 1998.
  • All applicants must be interviewed by the agency prior to being put forward to the client. (An interview may be by telephone or face-to-face however if an interview has not been face-to-face the client must be informed.
  • Applicants must be given full details of any job which the agency intends to recommend them and permission must be sought from the applicant. An applicant’s permission must be sought and obtained before his or her details are revealed to an employer. The agency should also determine whether or not the applicant has been approached by another agency about the same job.
  • References must not be sought without an applicant’s consent.
  • Members must protect the confidentiality of any information obtained in the course of a recruitment assignment and use such information only for the purpose of staff selection and recruitment.
  • Where testing procedures are taking place, these tests must be carried out by properly licensed and qualified testers and must comply with normal standards and ethics of test procedures.
  • Full regard must be given to the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation; Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) as transposed into Irish Law by SI 336 of 2011 European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Privacy and Electronic Communications) Regulations 2011 and at all times. In this respect Members are required to have in place the following provisions to ensure compliance with GDPR:
      1) Conduct a Data Audit identifying: - Why the Member Company is holding data? - How did the Member Company obtain data? - Why the data was originally gathered? - How long will the Member Company retain data? - How secure the data is, both in terms of encryption and accessibility? - Whether the data is ever shared with third parties and on what basis this might be done?
      2) Conduct an audit of the Member Company’s legal bases for processing data and clearly set that out in a policy document, including where necessary conducting a Legitimate Interest Assessment in respect of processes relying on legitimate interest as a lawful basis for processing.
      3) Conduct an audit of the Member Company’s ability to comply with the six data processing principles.
      4) Conduct an audit of the Member Company’s ability to comply with the rights and entitlements of data subjects.
      5) Where appropriate conduct Data Processing Impact Assessment(s).
      6) Publish and implement: - Privacy Policy and/or Data Protection Policy - Data Retention Policy - Data Security Policy - Data Transfer Policy - Data Processing Agreement(s) where appropriate - Data Sharing Agreement(s) where appropriate - Implementation Process Review
      7) Ensure all staff are properly informed and trained in relation to their responsibilities in respect of GDPR.
      8) Ensure that the Member Company is ready to respond to a Data Subject Access Request and has a readily accessible process in place to respond to a data subject’s exercise of their rights and entitlements in accordance with GDPR.
      9) Ensure that the Member Company is ready to implement a procedure in accordance with the GDPR time dependent requirements for breach notification.
      10) Appoint a Data Protection Officer where appropriate.
5Temporary/ Contract Applicants
  • Rule 4 shall apply to all applicants for temporary or contract employment.Full details of the work, conditions of employment, method and frequency of payment must be supplied to applicants prior to assignment to temporary employment in accordance with requirements of current legislation.
  • All payments, tax refunds, benefits and tax certificates must be given promptly to temporary employees with due.
6Clients (Employer) Handling
  • Members must provide full details of fees, charges, expenses and all Terms and Conditions of Business (confirmed in writing) before proceeding with a recruitment assignment.
  • Members are not allowed under any circumstances to “poach” applicants whom they have places in permanent employment without the express permission of the employer.
  • Members must protect the confidentiality of any information obtained on client’s business in the course of a recruitment assignment and use such information only for the purpose of staff selection and recruitment for that client.
7Disputes/ Complaints
  • In all cases relating to fee disputes between Members, the ethics Committee uses the following principles, which take precedence over Members Terms and Conditions of Business. The party who will be regarded as the effective cause of the placement (and therefore entitled to the placemen fee) is generally the party who has completed all the following three steps:
    1. Interviewed the candidate (telephone or face-to-face)
    2. Obtained the Candidate’s permission to release his / details to that specific Client Company for that specific vacancy
    3. Successfully made an introduction by obtaining the Client Company’s acceptance of the Candidate as an applicant for that vacancy (Client’s acceptance is defined as an interview between the Client and Candidate, which is arranged by the Member at the request of the client and has actually taken place).
  • All complaints will follow the standard grievance procedure set out in case 8 of this Code of Conduct.
  • All complaints/ grievances should be aired through the Ethics Committee - this committee is responsible for all grievances brought before the ERF. It is an independent committee made up of 3 professionals - Orlagh Hunt, Ken Belshaw and Peter Cosgrove.
8Testing
  • The Ethics Committee is responsible for all grievances brought before the ERF. The committee is comprised of no less than three and no more than four members of the ERF Committee along with an independent arbitrator in appeal situations.
  • The Ethics Committee can only rule on issues relating to the Code of Conduct affecting members of the ERF.
  • A complaint brought against any Member of the ERF for breaking the Code of Conduct must be made in writing as no verbal ruling may be given.
  • The complainant shall:
    1. State the facts upon which the complaint is based
    2. Indicate in detail which clause(s) / selections(s) of the Code have been breached.
  • The ERF has an important role to pay in continuously improving standards within the recruitment industry. Complaints against ERF members whether from applicants, clients or other Members will be investigated at all times.
  • If they are of the opinion that the complaint is unfounded, the Committee shall have the right to reject the application for Ethics Committee shall have the right to reject the application for Ethics Committee process. In such cases, the Ethics Committee shall give written notice and all reasons for rejecting the complainant’s application for action.
  • As soon as possible after receipt of a valid complaint, the Ethics Committee shall send the respondent a copy of the complaint.
  • The respondent shall be given fourteen (14) days within which to submit a written defence to the Ethics Committee. If the respondent is unable to do so within this time period they must notify the ERF in writing giving reasons. This period may be extended at the discretion of the Ethics Committee.
  • The complainant and/or the respondent may appeal against ruling of the Ethics Committee within 10 days of writing together with substantiated reasons for such appeal application.
  • When an appeal application is lodged, the Ethics Committee must inform the ERF Director and President thereof.
  • The ERF reserve the right to publish the result of the Ethics Committee’s findings.
  • A respondent who is an owner; principle, director, member or senior executive of a company, may not plead that he/she is not responsible for the policy of his/her organization, or the actions of its employees.If the Ethics Committee determines that the complaint is well founded it may issue one of the following sanctions:
    1. Written warning
    2. A fine not to exceed €5000
    3. Suspension of Membership for a period not exceeding one year;
    4. Expulsion from the ERF.
  • An expelled Member may apply for re-election and may be reinstated at the discretion of the Executive.
9Advertising
Only real jobs that a Member is authorised to promote may be advertised.