Strategy Guide against Overcharging
| MDWs in Hong Kong and Singapore face a broad range of vulnerabilities to labour exploitation, including employment agencies charging fees in circumvention of the law, which provides that no agency fees shall be collected from MDWs. The charging of placement fees by employment agencies often leaves MDWs in debt, rendering them more susceptible to other forms of exploitation in the course of their employment, which they may endure to relieve themselves from debt.
To explore the potential of cross-border collaborations among caseworkers, JWB has partnered with C&G Law (Philippines) and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Hong Kong) to produce the ‘Strategy Guide against Overcharging: An Overview of the Regulatory Structure around Agency Fees in the Philippines, Hong Kong SAR (China), and Singapore & Legal Remedies Available to Overcharged Migrant Workers”, with input and/or assistance from pro bono lawyers from Tan Kok Quan Partnership (TKQP) (Singapore), Drew & Napier LLC (Singapore) and Morrison & Foerster (Singapore) LLP. The Strategy Guide seeks to provide a complete mapping of the regulatory structure around agency fees along the Philippines–Hong Kong corridor and the Philippines-Singapore corridor, as well as the legal remedies available to MDWs along this migration route who have been charged illegal agency fees. The Strategy Guide was the product of countless hours of work by pro bono lawyers, law students and other volunteers. Please consider a donation in support of JWB’s programmes for migrant workers when you download the Strategy Guide. |
