The government has tabled the Private Employment Agencies (Amendment) Bill 2017, which empowers the director-general of the Labour Department to deal with licensing matters of employment agencies.

The bill compels industry players to obtain a valid licence and grants power to the director-general to approve and revoke licences, as well as to impose any condition on licences upon granting new ones or renewing them.

Anyone who operates an employment agency without a valid licence is liable to a maximum of three years' jail sentence or a maximum RM200,000 fine, or both, upon conviction.

Under the bill, the director-general may approve licences for companies that have a paid-up capital of RM50,000 to handle job placements within Malaysia.

The government also set conditions on employment agencies with paid-up capitals of RM100,000 to be allowed to handle job placements within and outside Malaysia.

The licence owner cannot rent out or lease the licence to another operator under the bill.

The bill also set the ceiling charges imposed on the job seeker, who should only pay a maximum of RM30 and RM50, respectively, as registration fees for job placements within and outside Malaysia.

The industry players should only charge a maximum placement fee of 25 percent of the first month's basic wage of Malaysians who secured a new job within and outside the country.

A non-citizen employee who is employed in Malaysia can be charged not more than one month of the basic wage of the first monthly salary.

The amendment bill was tabled by Human Resource Minister Richard Riot and will be debated in this Parliament session.

An operator who overcharges the job seeker will face a maximum of one year in jail sentence or a fine of RM50,000, or both.