SHARJAH, 30 April 2004 — Faced with mounting complaints and problems concerning foreign maids working in the country, the UAE Cabinet has approved a system under which recruiting agencies bear a major share of responsibility for ensuring the maids’ welfare and repatriation.
It also binds the employer and employee to live up to the terms stipulated in the employment contract in a format specified by the authorities.
It is the first such initiative undertaken by a government in the Gulf, where hundreds of thousands of women from the Indian sub-continent and other Asian countries work as maids. It streamlines every aspect of their employment, including the responsibilities and benefits of each party concerned, and for the first time brings to bear certain responsibilities on recruitment agencies.
Under the new system, maids can only be recruited through a licensed recruiting agency and the employer has to sign two sets of contracts, one with the agency and the other with the employee.
The first contract will hold the agency responsible for the employee during the first three months of probation under which it will bear repatriation cost if she absconds, is proven to have health problems or if the employer is not satisfied with the employee. The agency will also pay for local expenses paid by the employer for the employee - such as the fee for medical examinations - during this period.
The second contract, between the employer and the employee, will have the job description, the period of the contract, and salary.
The contract will bind the employer to shoulder the costs of medical care during the period of the contract as well as the cost of a return ticket after the contract expires. It will also stipulate that the employer will pay salary for the three-month probation period with all other benefits like accommodation.
The employee will be entitled to an annual leave of 21 days, and she could spend the time inside or outside the country; again it is the first time that it will be granted as a legal undertaking by the employer.
Effectively, the two contracts spare the embassy or consulate of the employee from having to intervene to settle disputes. The employment and related issues of maids will be handled by the General Directorate of Naturalization and Residency of the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry of Labor does not deal with the issue and decisions in disputes taken by the directorate are binding on the employer, the employee and the recruiting agency.
However, if the directorate’s decision is challenged by either party, the issue could be referred to a court of law.
The format of the two contracts is prepared by the directorate and the forms are expected to be released soon through the concerned departments whenever anyone applies for a new visa for a maid or to renew existing residence visas.
Officials here note that there had been numerous cases where employers or recruitment agencies have abused housemaids and vice versa.
Many women, mainly from India, are brought here by employment agents on promises that they are to be employed as office assistants and secretaries, and they end up working as maids. Since most of them might have paid tens of thousands of rupees to come, they would not be in a position to go back home.
