Anti-discrimination policy

The purpose of these rules of conduct is

• promote temporary employment agencies to apply the principle of equal treatment in their policies and daily actions and
• to provide temporary employment agencies with clarity to their permanent employees, temporary workers and clients, about how to prevent unequal treatment (consciously or unconsciously) prohibited by law. This concerns unequal treatment on the grounds of gender, race, ethnic origin or skin color, nationality, religion, belief, political affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, disability and age.

Article 1. The prohibition of distinction

1. In accordance with the provisions of the General Equal Treatment Act (AWGB), the Equal Treatment of Men and Women Act (WGB), the Equal Treatment on the Ground of Disability or Chronic Illness Act (WGBH/CZ) and the Equal Treatment on the Ground of Age in Employment Act (WGBL), temporary employment agencies reject distinctions on the grounds of sex, religion, belief, political affiliation, race, nationality, hetero - or
   homosexual orientation, marital status, disability or chronic illness and age.
2. Temporary employment agencies refrain from making unauthorized distinctions, directly or indirectly. Direct distinctions involve a direct reference to one of the personal characteristics mentioned in the first paragraph. Indirect distinction is distinction on the basis of a neutral criterion, which disproportionately affects certain persons in connection with one of the personal characteristics mentioned.
3. Views or preferences of clients, their employees or their relationships are not a valid reason to exclude persons in connection with the personal characteristics mentioned in the first paragraph.
4. Temporary employment agencies will, where appropriate, inform clients and prospective clients that they do not cooperate in meeting requirements or wishes with a discriminatory effect.

Article 2. Preferred policy

1. With the exception of the prohibition of distinction, clients are legally permitted to pursue a preferential policy for vacancies with regard to only three groups: women, persons belonging to a specific ethnic or cultural minority group and persons with disabilities or chronic illness. However, this is only permitted if the aim of this policy is to put persons belonging to these groups in a privileged position in order to eliminate factual inequalities. Preferential policy must meet the requirements as stated in Article 2, third paragraph, of the General Equal Treatment Act, Article 3, first paragraph, introductory wording and part c respectively, of the Equal Treatment on the Grounds of Disability and Chronic Illness Act.
2. The pursuit of preferential policies towards groups – other than those mentioned above, such as men, persons who do not belong to an ethnic or cultural minority group (‘autochtonens’) – is under no circumstances permitted. Nor is it permitted to pursue preferential policies based on other personal characteristics.

Article 3. Recruitment and selection

1. Temporary employment agencies must be involved in the recruitment, selection and provision of labour to clients, in compliance with the law
   provisions, to be guided solely by functional requirements. To prevent unauthorized distinction from being made, the setting of non-function-relevant requirements when making workers available is not permitted, because the effect of this may be that (indirect) distinction is made on the basis of
   prohibited personal characteristics.
2. Temporary employment agencies will, where appropriate, inform clients that the law prohibits them from cooperating in meeting requirements or wishes with a discriminatory effect.

Article 4. Offering relations

1. The open offering of a job takes place in terms of text and design of the vacancy in such a way that it shows no preference with regard to gender or age.
2. To the extent that making a distinction based on equal treatment legislation is exceptionally permitted, this reason is expressly stated when offering the position.

Article 5. Notice obligation

Temporary employment agencies and clients may not ask questions at the selection stage about personal characteristics such as pregnancy, disability or chronic illness, and sick members, unless this is exceptionally permitted under equal treatment legislation.

Article 6. Registration of personal characteristics

1. Temporary employment agencies will not make a note of the race, skin color or ethnic origin of those involved when registering (aspiring) temporary workers.
2. Signing that an (aspiring) temporary worker belongs to an ethnic or cultural minority will only be done if the employer intends to:
   to implement preferential policies for this group in order to eliminate the actual inequality of this group.
3. Temporary employment agencies may register the data necessary to comply with legal rules, such as determining whether the (aspiring) temporary worker may work in the Netherlands. According to the Act on the obligation to identify, every person will have to identify himself or herself to an employer upon taking up employment by means of a passport, driving licence or identification card. If the person appears to have a non-Dutch nationality, it must be determined whether the person is an EEA national or not. All EEA nationals may work in the Netherlands without restrictions if any formal administrative requirements – are met. If the (aspiring) temporary worker is not an EEA national, it must be determined whether the person is entitled to reside and work in the Netherlands, in accordance with the Aliens Employment Act (WAV). Use of this data for other purposes is not permitted.

Article 7. Announcement

1. Temporary employment agencies issue these rules of conduct to their permanent staff and, where necessary, provide instructions on implementation and application.
2. Equal treatment legislation is part of the training to become an intermediary.
3. The NBBU and its members subscribe to these rules of conduct and publish them on the NBBU website.

Article 8. Complaints procedure

1. Any interested party may lodge a complaint against a member of the NBBU or against a temporary employment agency that is not a member of the NBBU, but which has submitted to these rules of conduct in advance and voluntarily. This can be done by the secretary of the Tribunal and, in the absence of such a secretary, by the secretariat of the NBBU. The complaint consists of the fact that the temporary employment agency allegedly acted in violation of one or more articles of the rules of conduct. The Secretary of the Tribunal, and failing this, the secretariat of the NBBU, shall forward the complaint to the Tribunal as soon as possible.
2. The possibility of filing a complaint with the Tribunal does not affect the possibility that an interested party has under Article 12, paragraph 2, of the AWGB to submit a request for an opinion to the Equal Treatment Commission. It is not required that the complaint procedure before the Tribunal or any other internal or external procedure has been completed prior to this.
3. The sanctions that the Tribunal may impose consist of issuing a warning to the temporary employment agency concerned or a written reprimand
   respectively, to give advice to the NBBU to remove the declared guilty member from membership of the NBBU.