Foreign Employment Department to suspend licence renewals of manpower firms with unresolved complaints

Nepal's Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) will deny license renewals to manpower agencies that have not resolved outstanding complaints. This policy, effective July 17, aims to address a significant backlog of nearly 44,000 unresolved complaints, many of which involve individual brokers rather than licensed agencies.

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The department wants to conclude investigations and legal proceedings as quickly as possible. This is the licence renewal season. If a company fails to settle its pending complaints during this period, its licence will not be renewed.

The department is prioritizing the resolution of these long-standing issues, some dating back to 2000. "The department wants to conclude investigations and legal proceedings as quickly as possible," said Meera Acharya, director general of the DoFE. "If a company fails to settle its pending complaints during this period, its licence will not be renewed."

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We have separated complaints filed before 2023 from those filed afterwards and are processing them through public notices. Evidence collection is under way, and the policy is being implemented strictly.

Common complaints include charging excessive recruitment fees, contract violations, and misrepresentation of job details. When complaints are substantiated, compensation is drawn from the substantial cash deposits and bank guarantees that recruitment agencies are required to maintain. The DoFE is also strictly enforcing legal penalties, including fines of Rs50,000 per worker for overcharging, which can escalate to millions of rupees.

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The law is clear. If a manpower company is found to have overcharged even one worker, it faces a fine of Rs50,000 for each worker. If 100 workers are overcharged, the fine reaches Rs5 million. This has encouraged manpower companies to appear before the department and settle complaints.

By July 17, the DoFE intends to clear all cases involving registered agencies before implementing a new complaint management system. The department is also exploring ways to refer complex cases to specialized agencies and will enhance its monitoring of worker welfare abroad, requiring agencies to submit regular progress reports.

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The department does not have the capacity to investigate every dispute. We are working to refer complex cases to specialised agencies with greater expertise. From July 17, investigations, compensation and rescue operations will all be handled under the new system.