POEA suspends agency collecting placement fees from recruits to Canada

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has suspended the license of a local recruitment agency and initiated charges against its counterpart in Canada for collecting placement fees from applicants for jobs in Canada.

September Star Inc. and JFG Career Agency were found to have collected as much as US$8,000 (P332,000) from Filipinos who applied for jobs with A&W restaurant chain in Canada.

POEA Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz said JFG Career Agency, the counterpart of September Star Inc in Canada, was cited for default in its contractual obligations to the Filipino workers, and for gross violation of laws, rules and regulations on overseas employment.

Tyson J. Kefebre, owner of four branches of A&W restaurants in Canada who hired 16 Filipinos through September Star, filed the complaint to the POEA against the recruitment agencies after learning from his Filipino staff that they each paid $1, 500 (P62,000) and were compelled to sign promissory notes that they would pay additional US$4, 500 (P187,000) to September Star in scheduled installments.

Kefebre’s complaint said one of the Filipino workers paid JFG Career Agency US$2,000 for the release of her travel documents.

The Canadian agency also asked the worker to sign another employment contract with “very onerous terms" that were contrary to the terms of the contract approved by the Canadian government.

Police authorities in Alberta, Canada had sued JFG Career Agency for extortion and violation of Fair Trading Act.

According to Baldoz, the Canadian agency also collected excessive placement fees from Filipino workers recruited from the United Arab Emirates.

Collection of recruitment fees from employees is a criminal offense in Canada that carries a minimum fine of $100,000 or imprisonment, or both.

After the Department of Labor and Employment signed labor agreements with the provincial governments of Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba and Alberta, the POEA issued a memorandum circular prohibiting licensed agencies from collecting recruitment or placement fees from job applicants bound to the Canadian provinces. – GMANews.TV

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