Ng Siew Leng, a 52-year-old employment agency runner in Singapore has been charged with aiding to illegally employ a foreign domestic worker. Ms Leng seems not to learn from her mistake, as three years ago she was convicted of similar offence.

According to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)’s press release on Tuesday (Dec 12), she was charged on Dec 7 for “abetting the illegal employment” of a foreign domestic worker. Ms Leng had arranged the employment for an Indonesian foreign domestic worker to work in an employer’s household between Apr 7 and Apr 28 this year, without first getting a valid work pass for her.

Regarding to this case, MOM said that Ms Leng had abetted the employer to commit an illegal employment offence by illegally deploying the foreign domestic worker for three weeks, Channel News Asia reports.

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Given that Ms Leng had been previously convicted in May 2014 for the same offence, she will face firmer penalties of a fine of up to S$30,000 and a mandatory jail term of at least one month. In the previous case, she was already fined S$10,000 in default of three weeks’ jail. Another count of the same offence was also taken into consideration.

Under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act, Singaporean employers are not allowed to hire a foreigner without first getting a valid work pass for the employee. Furthermore, foreign domestic workers are also only permitted to work for the official employer and at the address stated on their work permit card.

Those who break the laws can be fined up to S$30,000, jailed for up to 12 months, or both. Repeat offenders face stiffer penalties including mandatory jail terms, and will also be barred from employing foreign domestic workers in the future.

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