Q: If a foreigner is the original employer or original labor broker can the labor brokerage charge one month’s salary as a registration fee?

Answer:

(1) Article 2 of the Standards for Fee-charging Items and Amounts of Private Employment Services Institutions (hereinafter the Fee-charging Standards) details the “registration fee” as the cost of registering to seek work or recruit. The “placement fee” is the cost of matchmaking and bringing together employers and job seekers. Article 3 stipulates that profit-making employment services agencies (hereinafter labor brokerages) commissioned by employers to provide employment services can charge a registration and placement fee, but in total the fees must not be more than the first monthly salary of the foreign worker. Article 5 stipulates that if an employment services agency is commissioned by a foreign worker to provide employment services related to work detailed in Subparagraph 7 to 11, Paragraph 1, Article 46 of the Employment Service Act it can charge a registration and placement fee, but in total the fees must not be more than the first monthly salary of the foreign worker.

(2) As with above, when a labor brokerage charges “employers” who apply to hire intermediate skilled workers or “intermediate skilled foreign workers” registration and placement fees they should do so in accordance with the principle that “fees are only charged for services provided.” When an “employer” or “intermediate skilled foreign worker” commissions a labor brokerage to provide employment services in accordance with Article 3 of the Fee-charging Standards (employers) and Article 5 (intermediate skilled foreign workers), the two sides should agree on a level for registration and placement fees that falls within the upper limit.