Almost 65,000 household workers, half of them men, have run away from their employers over the past 10 months, local media said, quoting data released by the Ministry of Labor.

These runaway domestic workers have cost their employers SR1 billion, the report said.

The ministry has introduced laws and mechanisms, which include an insurance program for domestics, aimed at protecting the rights of both employers and employees,, the report said.

Saudi families are entitled to recruit maids and drivers as long as they can prove their financial capability of paying the monthly wages of their employees.

Only divorcees and widows, on the other hand, are allowed to recruit housemaids from among the female population.

Widows are required to present IDs, power of authority, a copy of inheritance documentation, a widow’s certificate, an income statement, belonging either to themselves or one of their sons, and an undertaking to pay expenses.

Divorcees also have the right to recruit domestic workers and, similarly, should submit IDs, work-approved income statements and a copy of the divorce document, a newspaper said.