The Department of Employment and Labour has warned work seekers not to pay for employment opportunities.

The department has noted with concern a number of scams that keep popping up periodically, where unemployed people are promised jobs at a fee.

The latest scam is one that uses the department’s name for promises of so-called admin worker jobs, where scammers request unsuspecting members of the public to pay a refundable fee of R250 at PEP stores for background checks.

‘Work seekers are advised not to deposit any fees and share their contact and personal information, thus compromising their security.

‘No person may charge a fee to any work seeker for providing employment services to that work seeker. This is according to the Employment Services (ES) Act.

‘The Employment Services Act further states that a private employment agency must not deduct any amount from the remuneration of an employee or require or permit an employee to pay any amount in respect of placing that employee with an employer,’ the d
epartment said.

The department further highlighted that an unemployment rate of 31.9% has presented a fertile ground for scammers to dupe the public with promises of job offers in return for a fee.

The Department of Employment and Labour, through the Public Employment Services (PES) branch, as a custodian of Employment Services Act, must provide the following public employment services free of charge to members of the public in a manner that is open and accessible:

matching work seekers with available work opportunities;

registering work seekers;

registering job vacancies and other work opportunities;

facilitating the placing of work seekers with employers or in other work opportunities;

advising work seekers on access to education and training;

advising workers on access to social security benefits;

providing specialised services to assist vulnerable work seekers;

facilitating the exchange of information among labour market participants, including employers, workers and work seekers, privat
e employment agencies, Sector Education and Training Authorities and training providers;

facilitating the employment of foreign nationals in a manner that is consistent with the object of this Act and the Immigration Act; and

generally, performing any other function in terms of employment law or prescribed in terms of this Act.

‘As soon as you’re asked to pay anything towards recruitment and related employment services know that this is likely to be a scam. If someone or an organisation requests you to pay fees, report them at Department of Employment and Labour,’ the department said.

Source: South African Government News Agency