QuestionsQuestions (POEA MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 03, S. 2007)
It is anchored on Governing Board Resolution No. 4, Series of 2001, and reiterates the exception under Section 3, Rule V, Part II of the 2002 Rules and Regulations Governing the Recruitment and Employment of Land-based Overseas Workers.
When the worker will be deployed to any country where the prevailing system—by law, policy, or practice—does not allow charging and collection of placement fees, because the employer should defray the cost of placement and recruitment services.
Generally, an agency may charge and collect from the hired worker as placement fee an amount equivalent to one month salary, exclusive of documentation costs.
The exception applies where the prevailing system in the country of deployment does not allow charging or collection of placement and recruitment fees.
Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia.
Agencies are prohibited from charging or collecting any recruitment and placement fee from workers seeking employment/deployment to those provinces.
The prevailing policy under the Pilot Project requires Canadian employers to cover all recruitment costs related to hiring foreign workers; hence agencies are prohibited from charging or collecting recruitment/placement fees from those workers.
Yes. It states that agencies are prohibited from charging/collecting any recruitment and placement fee from workers under the Pilot Project regardless of the province of destination in Canada.
Any violation is a ground for cancellation of the agency’s license under Section 2, Paragraph (c), Rule II, Part VI of the 2002 Rules.
It means that even if Philippine rules allow certain fees, the agency must check the actual conditions in the destination country; if local law, governmental policy, or common practice does not allow charging workers recruitment/placement fees, the agency must not charge.
No. British Columbia is expressly identified as prohibiting the charging of recruitment and placement fees upon any person seeking employment; therefore the agency cannot charge or collect placement/ recruitment fees from workers.
The circular focuses on whether agencies may charge or collect placement/recruitment fees from workers. If agencies charge workers despite the Canadian employer eventually reimbursing, it would still violate the prohibition unless the agency does not collect such fees from the worker.
It states that when the destination country does not allow charging workers placement fees, the employer bears the costs of placement and recruitment services.
It is a POEA Memorandum Circular (dated December 19, 2007), and it commands immediate compliance.