Better working conditions for PH domestic workers in UAE

Filipino household service workers (HSW) will soon be able to enjoy better employment rights under a newly signed law in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said UAE’s new Law on the protection of Domestic Workers resulted to the forging of a PhilippineUAE Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Under the MOU, Filipino HSWs will now be able to use a standard employment contract (SEC) compliant with Philippine laws that will ensure the protection of their personal dignity and physical safety.

The accord also provides Filipino HSWs assurance of the following benefits: due payment and non-withholding of wages; 12 hours of daily rest; one-day of weekly rest; decent accommodation; medical treatment; on-retention of identity documents such as passports; non-payment of costs and fees on recruitment and deployment; and Non payment on cost of repatriation.

“With this MOU, OFW (overseas Filipino workers) in UAE will have stronger protection, and the firm assurance from both PHL and UAE governments the protection will be the first order of the day,” Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in a statement.

The MOU will take effect once the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) and its UAE counterpart issues the necessary guidelines for the implementation of the new SEC in the coming weeks.

The recruitment industry welcomed the development since it will help curtail the rise of trafficked Filipino HSWs in UAE.

To recall, the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in UAE stopped the verification of the contracts of HSWs in 2014 after the UAE government insisted they use its own version of SEC. The POLO could not verify UAE’s SEC for foreign HSWs since it did not comply with Philippine laws at that time.