Employment agency and employee face 243 charges for advertising maids on Carousell

SINGAPORE - Employment agency SRC Recruitment and one of its staff were on Thursday (Oct 4) slapped with 243 charges for "selling" maids on online marketplace Carousell.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a statement that the advertisements were placed between Sept 1 and 17, and had cast the maids in an undignified light.

The employee, Erleena Mohd Ali, 41, had uploaded the insensitive advertisements, the statement added.

SRC Recruitment faces a total of 144 charges under the Employment Agencies Act, while Erleena faces 99 charges.

The offences include advertising foreign domestic workers in a manner akin to a commodity and failing to ensure that SRC's name and licence number are reflected in the advertisements.

SRC's licence has been suspended, which means it can no longer deploy any foreign domestic workers, while Erleena has been deregistered as an employment agency personnel.

MOM was first alerted to the Carousell listings on Sept 14 and put up a Facebook post to warn other employment agencies against such practices.

In Carousell listings put up by user @maid.recruitment, the faces of several maids, allegedly from Indonesia, were posted. Some of the profiles even indicate that the maids have been "sold".

The listings on Carousell were posted by user @maid.recruitment and showed the faces of several maids, allegedly from Indonesia.

Some of the posts indicated that the maids had been "sold".

In its statement, MOM said that it expects employment agencies to exercise sensitivity and a duty of care towards their clients, including maids, when marketing their services.

MOM added that there are established guidelines on responsible advertising that are well publicised - including on the MOM website - which employment agencies are expected to adhere to.

Those who have any information on infringements under the Employment Agencies Act should report the matter via the MOM website (www.mom.gov.sg) under "Contact us" or call 6438 5122, it said.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.