Kathmandu, Shrawan 21 - The Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) has slapped Rs50,000 fine on 39 licensed recruitment agencies for sending Nepali workers abroad via foreign airports prior to getting its approval under Foreign Employment Act 2064.
The department said that the agencies had made arrangements for the overseas destinations via foreign airports without getting approval from the relevant laws of the Foreign Employment Act under the Nepal government. The department has found that the agencies have violated legal procedures for the employment of Nepali workers overseas.
According to Section 22 of the Foreign Employment Act, 2064, the licensed agencies are generally required to send workers for overseas employment via the airports situated in Nepal. Use of a foreign airport is permissible only in exceptional circumstances like where airline tickets are not available and with prior permission of the Department of Foreign Employment. Furthermore, the information of the worker's leaving must be submitted to the relevant immigration office prior to his or her departure from Nepal.
The Department of Foreign Employment has asked recruitment agencies to provide flight details of workers who received labor approval and traveled for foreign employment dates from Chaitra 1, 2082 to Jestha 31, 2083 to check their compliance to these legal requirements.
The department, after analyzing the submitted data, determined that 39 recruitment agencies were operating in foreign airports without the necessary approval. The department took the incident as the second offence under Section 54 of the Foreign Employment Act, 2064, and imposed Rs50,000 fine on each agency.
Section 54 provides for a stepped approach to enforcement of the Foreign Employment Act. The first offence can be handed a warning and the second an Rs50,000 fine. The third offense could be punished with a Rs100,000 fine and cancellation of the recruitment company's license.
The Department of Foreign Employment has also been asking written explanations from 124 recruitment agencies that had been sent two separate instructions to submit the flight information for not doing so. The agencies have seven days to present their case to the department for not complying with its instructions or else they will have to be fined Rs50,000.
A total of 598 recruitment agencies has been caught so far by the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) for either not giving the relevant flight information or operating from foreign airports without prior approval. The department assured that it will continue to follow up on compliance of the Nepalese laws relating to overseas employment and penalize the agencies which fail to comply with the legal requirements related to foreign employment.
Source: Online Khabar
