Employment Agencies Act Review

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Media report

Call to cap agents’ fees
TODAY
27 May 2010

TWC2, sector players propose ways to protect foreign workers

ESTHER NG
estherng@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE — While the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is looking at tougher penalties for errant employment agencies, a migrant workers welfare group here wants the issue of foreign workers being charged excessive fees to be addressed.

Proposals that Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) sent this month to MOM include a law to cap employment agency fees at no more than three times a foreign worker’s monthly salary, and for agents to provide a partial or full refund when work is terminated through no fault of the worker.

Agents should also disclose to workers an employer’s track record with the agency — such as the number of work permits cancelled before expiry, said TWC2.

In March, MOM said it would review the Employment Agencies Act.

It received 1,280 complaints last year on agency malpractices, an 80-per-cent hike from the previous year.

TWC2 said overseas agencies, rather than Singapore-based ones, charge exorbitant amounts. It suggested making it a requirement for Singapore-licensed agencies to do business only with registered overseas counterparts.

This would not work, said Reliant human resource director A Rajasekaran, as employment agencies from receiving and sending countries typically require the services of middlemen — agents who scout for labour.

“These agents will charge agencies, registered or not, a fee. So how are you going to control this?” he said.

What Mr Rajasekaran would like to see are stiffer restrictions or penalties on unlicensed agencies, whose numbers, he feels, have spiralled.

“Anyone can go online, put the name of workers, submit the application and collect fees from the worker,” he said.

Currently, the maximum penalty for operating an unlicensed agency is $5,000 — a “few thousand dollars less” than what agencies charge foreign workers.

MOM is mulling the idea of requiring agencies to be accredited with the Association of
Employment Agencies Singapore or the Consumers Association of Singapore.

TWC2 has suggested raising the barriers to entry by setting a “sufficiently high minimum capitalisation requirement” for those seeking a new licence or to renew one. It wants the $350 licence application fee to be raised.

1S Staffing Services manager Ng Sian Ki welcomed the proposals. He has been asked by workers if their prospective employer is “stable”.

But both he and Mr Rajasekaran baulked at disclosing to a worker an employer’s track record with an agency.

According to TWC2, the law does not place enough responsibility on employment agencies to safeguard the interests of foreign workers where job placement is concerned.

Workers have been placed with businesses in a “fragile” state or with employers who make unreasonable demands, terminate employment or fail to give sufficient work.

In Australia, a company has to guarantee each foreign worker a minimum of 30 hours of paid work per week over a six-month period.

TWC2 has proposed the partial or whole refund of agency fees to a worker when work is not forthcoming.