The increasing numbers of domestic servants who run away from their sponsors indicates a problem that is worsening despite efforts by the Ministry of Labor to solve it. While the ministry is working to protect workers from being abused by sponsors, it must also remember to protect the rights of sponsors as well.
A maid or driver who runs away for no real reason causes an employer a great deal of inconvenience and results in losses amounting to thousands of riyals. This includes the money paid to the recruiting agency and also for issuing iqama (residence permit) in addition to other expenses.
The ministry’s recent decision banning sponsors who repeatedly abuse workers from bringing in other workers is a step in the right direction. Nonetheless, I don’t think all workers who run away are innocent individuals who have been persecuted. They run away because they know very well they can freely move from one place to another, creating problems for the families they have been working for and with no fear of legal action being taken against them. There is no law that obliges the workers to compensate their sponsors for the money spent on bringing them into the Kingdom.
It is unfortunate that the ministry has acted without first conducting social, economic and security studies to determine the reasons behind the maltreatment and abuse of household workers. It should have considered how to address the problem and what measures were needed to avoid it in future. One main reason for the problem is that workers use non-payment of salaries as a pretext for creating problems. When they do not do their jobs properly, they force their frustrated employers to react. It is from this that maltreatment and abuse occur. And this is the excuse many runaway workers cite as the reason for them running away.
Some families try to appease maids to ensure that the maids do not harm the children. For an increase of only SR200, a worker may leave a family with which he or she has spent years and go to work for someone else without bothering to tell their sponsors. This is a clear violation of the sponsor’s rights.
Runaway workers going from one city to another without the knowledge of their sponsors and even without proper documents are violating the country’s laws and endangering security. The ministry should coordinate with security agencies to stop such practices and work to protect the sponsor’s rights, especially those of working mothers who are forced to hire household workers.
