Singapore Law Blog

The Ministry of Manpower has introduced a new piece of subsidiary legislation under the Employment Agency Act, namely the Employment Agencies (Composition of Offences) Rules 2005, and amended the Employment Agency Rules with the Employment Agency (Amendment) Rules 2005.
Under the Employment Agencies (Composition of Offences) Rules 2005, offences under the Employment Agencies Act (EA Act) and Rules may henceforth be compounded by the Commissioner or any officer authorized by him. The composition amount is $2,000 or half the maximum fine prescribed for the offence, whichever is lower. This new regulation affords MOM greater flexibility to penalize EAs which breach the provisions of the EA Act and Regulations.

Under the Employment Agency (Amendment) Rules 2005, any EA licensee who collects any deposit or fee from any person after he or she has received notice in writing of the Commissioner’s intent to revoke his or her EA licence, commits an offence and is liable for prosecution. This protects customers from unscrupulous EAs who may continue to collect deposits despite impending closure due to licence revocation.