After 60 workers filed complaints to the interior and labour ministries saying they were each cheated out of $4,000, their job placement company has agreed to pay a portion of the money back.

Mom Moa, who represents the workers, said 35 of the 60 workers yesterday accepted $2,000 to $2,500 from the Cambodia-Japan Care Skills Training Center. The remaining 25 workers refused to accept the offer, saying they would only take the full amount they paid the company in 2015.

The workers claim they paid the company for training, and eventually expected to be placed in jobs in Japan. The latter never took place. “Since we came to complain . . . they agreed to pay,” Moa said.

Ou Toch, from Kampong Cham, said he would not accept partial payment. “My nephew, other villagers and I did not agree to accept,” she said. “We need our money and what we paid the company.”

La Sophin, a deputy director at the company, declined to answer questions about why the firm had failed to place the workers in jobs and had not returned their money.

Sophin claimed the company is paying the workers in instalments, and that those who received portions of their pay yesterday will receive the outstanding amount at a later date.

“The company will try to pay them all step-by-step,” Sophin said.