A COMPANY has been told it cannot advertise for hardworking staff - because it discriminates against anyone who is not a hard worker.

Recruitment consultant Beryl King wanted to advertise for staff for a client.

But, to her astonishment, her advert for "warehouse packers who must be hardworking and reliable" was banned by the JobCentre She say bosses rejected it for discriminating against people who are not hard workers or could not work hard.

Beryl, pictured above, couldn't believe her ears. "Has our world gone completely mad?" she said.

"If I advertise for a typist, am I discriminating against people who can't type? "How long will it be before someone dictates that you cannot pay people for working, as this will discriminate against people who are paid for not working - ie on benefit?" Beryl, who owns two recruitment companies - Mayday Personnel Service and Wise Recruitment at Totton, says hard workers are increasingly thin on the ground.

"I have been working for 35 years and running my own business for 27 and it is getting harder and harder to find people who genuinely want to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay," she said.

"Where will it all end?" Other recruitment specialists say the story is typical of a system obsessed with political correctness.

"The JobCentre is extremely fussy about what goes in its adverts, very politically correct and sometimes too much so," said Barbara Cluett of recruitment agency Cluett Reeve.

"There's always a lot of things you can't say but I have never experienced anything so extreme."

A JobCentre spokesman said the incident was under investigation.

He said: "Words such as 'hardworking' or other words often used to describe a person's manner or personality can be accepted if they are used in conjunction with a clear job description. Employers should be discouraged from using a string of descriptive words, which do not explain what the vacancy would involve. However, where an employer refuses to change wording the vacancy should be accepted and a note made on the employer's record."

A London firm was recently reported to have been told it could not advertise for an office junior using the terms "enthusiastic, mature, smartly dressed, articulate."

Karen Bladen, regional organiser for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: "This just makes it harder to recruit people. The more we read the papers the more we hear of this sort of regulation being thrown at small businesses.

"It's worrying and it might put businessess off advertising for staff."