Employment agency that advertised maids on Carousell like 'commodities' fined $78,000, has license revoked
SINGAPORE — An employment agency (EA) that posted “insensitive” advertisements for foreign maids on Carousell was fined a total of $78,000 and had its license revoked on Tuesday (30 April).
SRC Recruitment was fined $48,000 after pleading guilty in March to 16 charges of breaching EA licensing conditions by advertising foreign domestic workers (FDWs) insensitively and casting them in an undignified light, said the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in a press release.
The firm was slapped with a further $30,000 in fines for another 29 charges under the Employment Agencies Act (EAA). These included 15 counts of failing to include the firm’s name and license number in its advertisements, two counts of failing to administer FDW safety agreements and 10 counts of failing to issue itemised receipts to FDWs.
A total of 99 charges were taken into account for the firm’s sentencing. MOM added that a “notice of license revocation has been served to SRC” over the case.
In a related case, SRC employment agent Erleena Mohd Ali was fined $20,000 in November last year after pleading guilty to 10 charges under the EAA. She had posted advertisements for Indonesian FDWs on Carousell after receiving approval to do so from one of the firm’s key appointment holders.
Likened to commodities
Investigations into the SRC’s breaches of the EAA revealed that between 1 and 17 September last year, the firm had advertised the services of 49 FDWs on the Carousell online marketplace.
“These advertisements likened the FDWs to commodities,” said MOM, which prosecuted the case.
The ministry noted that it had informed the EA industry through alerts in July 2014, November 2016 and February last year that responsible advertising was part of the licensing conditions.
“Despite this, SRC failed to exercise sensitivity when marketing its services, and breached the said EA Licence Condition,” said MOM.
“MOM does not condone any offensive and insensitive advertising methods that portray FDWs in a negative light. We remind all EAs of the need to uphold professional standards when discharging their duties,” said Kevin Teoh, the commissioner for employment agencies.
For breaching EA licensing conditions, offenders may be fined up to $5,000, jailed up to six months, or both. Those who have any information on EAA infringements can report the matter to MOM via its website (under “Contact us”) or call 6438 5122.
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Agency that posted ads of maids 'sold' on Carousell charged: MOM
MOM suspends license of job agency behind Carousell ads of Indonesian maids
