The Sri Lankan Embassy will be kept open round the clock for distressed housemaids seeking assistance from the mission in case of emergency, Ambassador Mohammed Hussein Mohamed told Arab News.

“While providing needed assistance to the maidservants, the consular office also warns them not to indulge in any action which contravenes the work contract signed between the employee and the employer,” the envoy said.

The official pointed out that the common misconception among the maids coming to the Kingdom is that they can run away from sponsors’ homes after completing three months of work in the country.

“Such advices are given by some unscrupulous job agents in the island, but the truth is that the maids are hired for two years and they are compelled by law to work for the employer for the said period,” he noted, giving an example of how some sponsors spend over SR20,000 to recruit a maid, only to have her run off after a few weeks.

Moreover, the envoy said, some of these maids are lured by agents who give them over SR5,000 prior to their departure to the Kingdom.

On arrival, the maids decide to go back home, leaving the sponsors stuck in difficult situations.

Last year, 15 Saudi sponsors filed cases against Sri Lankan housemaids who ran away from their homes in the Eastern Province.

The sponsors claimed that each of them had spent thousands of riyals to recruit maids from Colombo, only to have the women run away shortly after.

After the authorities arrested the fleeing servants, the Saudi sponsors claimed a reimbursement of the recruitment fees from the maids.

In order to stop such incidents from happening again, M.B.M. Zarook, first secretary of the Sri Lankan Consulate in Jeddah in charge of labor welfare, said Lankan authorities are trying to find a system to prevent those elements from coming to the Kingdom.

“We want to ensure the interest of both the employee and the employers in such circumstances,” he added.