hans leo j. cacdac · @HansLeoCacdac
24th Mar 2015 from TwitLonger
News Release
23 March 2015
POEA cancels agency’s license for milking money out of domestic workers
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has canceled the license of TCI Recruitment Corporation, which in three cases, was found to have violated POEA rules on collection of placement fees by licensed recruitment agencies.
Administrator Hans Leo J. Cacdac said TCI Recruitment Corporation, in one instance, collected Php45,000.00 from an applicant for a housekeeping job in Dubai even without a signed employment contract. The agency did not issue the appropriate receipt and failed to deploy the worker.
In another case, the recruitment agency required an applicant to pay Php60,000 for a job in Cyprus as household service worker. The worker was able to pay Php16,000 and signed an employment contract but she was not deployed despite waiting for seven months.
The third case involved the deployment of an OFW to Dubai. The agency collected from the worker a placement fee amounting to Php25,000 for a job as manicurist with a salary of approximately Php16,500. Upon arrival in Dubai, she was asked to sign an employment contract with a salary of Php8,000. She did not accept the contract and flew back to the Philippines after two weeks.
POEA Rules prohibits recruitment agencies from charging or accepting directly or indirectly any amount greater than that specified in the schedule of allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary, or making a worker pay any amount greater than that actually received by him as a loan or advance.
Cacdac said that generally, a land-based recruitment agency may charge and collect from its hired workers a placement fee in an amount equivalent to the worker’s one month salary. However, collection of placement fee from household service workers is prohibited.
A violation carries the penalty of cancellation of license even on the first offense plus refund of the placement fee charged or collected from the worker. It has an accessory penalty of refund of the excessive fee charged or collected from the worker. /END
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