Job recruiter warned for cash requirement

SVAY Rieng labour officials yesterday warned a construction firm recruiting prospective employees to stop making them hand over cash in exchange for jobs.

Provincial Labour Department and police officials visited two firms on Monday after receiving reports that they were charging workers for jobs at factories in the border town, said Keo Sophorn, police chief for Svay Teab district.

They first visited Shan Yaw Enterprise to investigate the claims but were told by staffers there that another firm, Yus Cambodia, had been doing the hiring for them. Sophorn said Yus Cambodia had offered to recruit workers for Shan Yaw Enterprise, charging each new employee $40.

“When we talked to Yus Cam- bodia, they said they did have that policy, as we suspected, but that they had not accepted the money as yet,” Sophorn said.

Has Bunthy, director for the provincial Labour Department, said around 240 people had applied for jobs with Yus Cambodia but that no workers had paid the company yet.

The companies were warned that such payments were outlawed unless they were registered with the ministry as official recruitment agencies, he added.

“We told both companies to sign [an agreement] to stop this action and advised them to register for a licence from the Department of Labour,” he said.

The bust comes weeks after the ministry issued a warning to unregistered recruitment firms accepting payments from potential candidates, saying these firms would be fined if they kept up these practices.