Recruitment agency and New Zealand employer suspended
8 September 2014
A Philippine recruitment company has been suspended and its foreign principal and direct employer in New Zealand barred from employing Filipino workers, a statement from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) says.
Mon, 8 Sep 2014A Philippine recruitment company has been suspended and its foreign principal and direct employer in New Zealand barred from employing Filipino workers, a statement from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) says.
POEA administrator Hans Cacdac said his organisation initiated the complaint against multi-sector recruiter Sacred Heart International based on a letter endorsed by the Philippine Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.
It also began disciplinary action against Business Immigration and Valiant Homes, the counterpart placement agency and employer in New Zealand.
Those companies are not allowed to hire workers from the Philippines, while Sacred Heart cannot deploy overseas Filipino workers until the POEA gives them the all clear.
Cacdac said eight Filipino construction workers employed by Valiant Homes in Auckland, New Zealand, alleged they each paid Sacred Heart PHP330k (£4.7k), but only received a receipt for PHP120k.
They were to receive NZ$20 (£10) per hour but they alleged their payslips did not match with the timesheets they submitted to the company. They were effectively short-changed by several hours a week.
They also claimed the company deducted $30 from their salary as a service fee and that they were forced to work Saturdays under threat of being sent back to the Philippines.
The workers claimed the agency also endorsed them to lending companies that charged them high interest rates, seeing their total loan balloon to half a million pesos.
POEA administrator Hans Cacdac said his organisation initiated the complaint against multi-sector recruiter Sacred Heart International based on a letter endorsed by the Philippine Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand.
It also began disciplinary action against Business Immigration and Valiant Homes, the counterpart placement agency and employer in New Zealand.
Those companies are not allowed to hire workers from the Philippines, while Sacred Heart cannot deploy overseas Filipino workers until the POEA gives them the all clear.
Cacdac said eight Filipino construction workers employed by Valiant Homes in Auckland, New Zealand, alleged they each paid Sacred Heart PHP330k (£4.7k), but only received a receipt for PHP120k.
They were to receive NZ$20 (£10) per hour but they alleged their payslips did not match with the timesheets they submitted to the company. They were effectively short-changed by several hours a week.
They also claimed the company deducted $30 from their salary as a service fee and that they were forced to work Saturdays under threat of being sent back to the Philippines.
The workers claimed the agency also endorsed them to lending companies that charged them high interest rates, seeing their total loan balloon to half a million pesos.
