| Ministry locks down job agency |
| Observer Reporter Friday, November 01, 2002 |
THE labour ministry yesterday ordered the closure of Zander Marketing Company at 2 3/4 Ruthven Road, Kingston where it said a number of Jamaican nurses were allegedly fleeced of millions of dollars by recruiters who promised them jobs in the United States.
"The Fraud Squad had since been called in and two persons are being questioned in connection with the crime," said a ministry statement.
However, it said the whereabouts of the company's managing director was unknown.
In the meantime, the ministry has advised members of the public to be wary of such employment agencies and to exercise vigilance. Contact, it said, should be made with the ministry to ensure that the employment agency is operating as prescribed by law.
And senior director of the labour ministry's Overseas Employment Programme, Barrington Bailey said "employment agencies and recruiters who are operating without the proper licences will be brought before the courts".
He said every effort would be made to protect members of the labour force, noting that investigations spearheaded by the ministry revealed that the operators of the recruitment programme were not licensed and were operating without proper certification.
Earlier this year the ministry conducted a workshop with a number of employment agencies and outlined their obligations under the Foreign Recruitment Act.