MOM Revokes Licences of Three Employment Agencies
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has revoked the licences and forfeited the security deposits of three employment agencies (EA) - Ms Bushra Employment Agency, CM Manpower Centre Pte Ltd and Angel Maids Agency. These EAs have breached the Employment Agencies Act by illegally deploying foreign domestic workers (FDWs) to perform work at households when they have not obtained valid work passes1. Please refer to Annex A for facts of the cases.
2. Mr Aw Kum Cheong, Divisional Director of the Foreign Manpower Management Division, MOM said "We will prosecute irresponsible EAs that deploy FDWs to work without valid work passes. MOM would also like to remind employers that they are not permitted to employ FDWs on a trial basis without a valid work permit."
3. Any EA found in serious breach of MOM's EA and Work Pass regulations can have its licence revoked and security deposit forfeited. Between Jan 2007 to Sep 2007 (to-date), the Ministry has revoked the licences of four EAs and barred the renewal of another three EAs. In 2006, there were four EA revocations and six non-renewal cases. The revocations and non-renewals were mainly due to illegal employment and deployment offences.
4. Employers can visit the MOM website for a list of licensed and accredited EAs.
1 Under EA Rule 12(2), no EA shall cause, induce or assist a foreign worker to commence work in Singapore unless the employer has obtained in respect of the foreign worker a valid work permit issued by the Controller of Work Pass.