Employers made to pay maids back wages

Riyadh police recently forced 13 Saudis to pay SR 443,700 in back wages to their house maids.
The maids, who worked in four different cities, complained to the Domestic Workers Affairs Office (DWA) at the Riyadh Police Department that their employers denied them salaries for an extended period of time, and then threw them on the street.
The DWA looked for the erring employers in four provinces: Riyadh, Eastern Province, Jouf and Al-Kharj. Most of the maids are Indonesians who worked in Riyadh, according to reports.
Police said one maid was left on the street by her employer who didn’t expect the DWA to look for him after the maid sought help from the agency.
The woman received SR 70,500, which is the largest amount paid to any of the 13 maids. She was then received by her country’s embassy and sent home.
The second largest amount was SR 50,500 and went to a maid who also worked in Riyadh. The third largest amount was SR 50,000, which went to an Indonesian maid who worked in Al-Kharj.
The employers were questioned and made to pay the maids wages by a committee from DWA and the Ministry of Social Affairs.
Meanwhile, Nawwaf Al Bouq, a spokesman for Jeddah Police Department, said the Directorate of Expat Workers (DEW) is the party responsible for the final settlement between the domestic helper and her sponsor in the Jeddah region.
He said that any person can file a complaint with DEW, which has a committee for domestic helpers and a representative from the police.
Many maids told Arab News they had no idea that the DWA existed.