POEA goes after recruiters collecting placement fees from domestic workers to Hong Kong

The Philippine government said recruitment agencies that collect placement fees from Filipino Household Service Workers (HSWs) applicants risk losing their license.

Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said a total prohibition on charging placement fees from HSWs exists, based on POEA Governing Board Resolution No. 6, Series of 2006.

“Very clearly, licensed agencies can still collect placement fee or service fee, provided that it should not be shouldered by the worker but by the foreign principal,” he explained.

Cacdac said recruiters should not to circumvent the no-placement fee policy by collecting excessive fees supposedly for medical examination, training, video bio-data, and pre-departure orientation seminar.

Violation of the prohibition on placement fee collection is considered a grave offense whereby the imposable penalty is cancellation of license, regardless of the number of complainants.

Cacdac noted that in most host country, employers are the ones who pay a service fee to shoulder all the cost of hiring and deploying HSWs.

Cacdac said a group of licensed recruitment agencies deploying HSWs to Hong Kong has decided to scrap collection of placement fees from its workers.

“I urge other recruiter associations to follow the lead of the 52 members of the Society of Hong Kong Accredited Recruiters of the Philippines (SHARP), which have committed to support the government’s campaign to improve the welfare of Filipino household workers in other countries,” he said. - VVP, GMA News

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