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MOM Revokes Licences of 15 Employment Agencies

Foreign manpower

16 November 2010

  1. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has revoked the licences of 15 employment agencies (EAs) so far this year, compared to the 11 revocations last year1. MOM has also forfeited the security deposits2 of these 15 agencies while the licensees and directors have been barred from holding EA licences and key appointment3 in other EAs.
  2. The 15 revocations this year were due to various infringements under the Employment Agencies Act or the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act. These infringements ranged from the illegal employment of foreigners, helping to make false declarations in work permit applications and abetting the operations of unlicensed employment agencies/agents. Please refer to Annex for details of the cases.

    Non-renewal of licences for 17 EAs
  3. To date, in 2010, MOM did not renew the licences of 17 EAs, compared to a total of 14 non-renewals from 2006 to 2009. Reasons for the non-renewals include the agency's involvement in making false declarations in work pass applications and acting as proxies for agents who have been barred from holding an EA licence.

    Result of Stepped-up Investigations
  4. Mr Aw Kum Cheong, MOM’s Divisional Director of the Foreign Manpower Management Division, said, "Our stepped-up enforcement operations on the ground have yielded results, especially in identifying EAs who abetted offences such as making false declarations to the Ministry or submitting work permit applications on behalf of unlicensed agents. Such rogue EA practices will not be tolerated as they undermine the integrity of our work pass system. MOM will continue to keep up the pressure on rogue EAs to safeguard the interests of both workers and employers. The new EA regulatory framework that will be put in place next year would give MOM greater legislative authority to take these rogue agents to task and raise the standards of the EA industry at the same time."
  5. MOM reminds employers to verify that an EA is licensed before engaging its services as they might otherwise abet the offences committed by an unlicensed EA. A list of licensed employment agencies as well as other important regulatory information can be found on the Ministry's website.

1 There were 7 revocations in 2008 and 4 each in 2007 and 2006.

2 $10,000 and $20,000 per agency would be forfeited for accredited and non-accredited agencies respectively.

3 Key appointment holder in relation to an employment agency refers to the licensee, director, executive officer, partner or sole-proprietor or any person who has general control over the management and operation of the employment agency.