A young Sri Lankan house maid who returned to the country from Jordan semi-paralyzed on a stretcher has been denied the compensation due to her from both the insurance company in that country and the state-run Foreign Employment Bureau in Colombo.
The Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) Secretary Faizer Mackeen told The Sunday Times that the victim -Sinna Thambi Shanthi- of Suruwila Mannampitiya in the Polonaruwa District who arrived in the country in June last year in a semi-paralyzed state is yet to receive any form of compensation from the state or any other party despite several appeals.
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| A copy of the cheque which the SLBFE claim could not be honoured as link facilities were not available. |
The young woman who is the sixth in a family of seven is currently bed ridden and unable to attend to her personal needs owing to the serious nature of her affliction.
According to Mr. Mackeen, the young woman allegedly fell off a three-storeyed apartment while attempting to clean windows in May last year,
A cheque for Jordan Dinars 3,500 (SLRS 500,000) issued to her from the insurance company in that country could not be encashed at the local bank in Anuradhapura for questionable reasons. The SLFEB has not paid compensation to the victim either.
“All migrant workers bound for the Middle East are covered with a compulsory insurance premium by the SLFEB and therefore the authorities should have paid compensation as soon as the woman arrived into the country. Unfortunately the SLFEB appears to be dragging its feet, while the victim and her family continues to suffer in silence”, Mr. Mackeen said.
He alleged that bureaucratic red tape at the SLFEB was the main reason for the delay in the payment of the compensation. “This should never be the case, Middle East bound workers are hunted down at the departure terminal in the airport and forced to pay the insurance contribution or risk being prevented from leaving the country. There are many instances where people were turned back because they did not have money for this insurance premium.
“But when it comes to the payment of compensation it is an entirely different story, with the Bureau making lame excuses for non payment of compensation”, he said.
In desperation, the father of the victim has now written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa seeking redress.
In a related development the remains of another Sri Lankan female domestic who died of natural causes in the same country was brought to her home after the next of kin paid a sum of money amounting to Rs. 180,000 as expenses despite having insurance cover.
“The life insurance premium which covers death, was valid for a period of 27 months, and the worker had expired after 25 months. It was therefore the duty of the insurance company in Jordan to meet the necessary expenses. However the SLBFE forced the family to come up with the money”, Mr. Mackeem said.
The Chairman of the SLBFE, Mr. S. Ranawaka said that the cheque from the Arab Bank in Jordan could not be honoured since there was no link facility between the banks in both countries. “This is a genuine mistake on the part of the insurance company in Amman and that the matter will be sorted out at the earliest he said. He however refused to give a time frame within which this would happen.
He added the Bureau was working out details regarding payment of compensation to the victim which would take some months to realize. He added the woman was on a special list to be provided with financial assistance to build a house or renovate the existing one. He said bureau officials had visited the victim’s home in Polonnaruwa and assured the woman that she would receive compensation.
He claimed in the case of the woman who died of natural causes, the victim was not covered by the insurance policy as the period of 27 months had already expired.
The ALFEA however maintained the victim had completed only 25 months and was eligible. |
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