News
Stiff new rules to protect workers’ rights and employers from racketeering agents
Sri Lankan expatriate workers who arbitrarily terminate their work agreements in West Asian countries face jail terms, stiff fines and will be blacklisted in the host country under a new agreement to be implemented soon, senior officials and the industry said yesterday.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Sri Lanka and the receiving countries will also at the same time provide the fullest protection of the workers’ rights such as the proper payment of wages, working and living conditions, medical etc., Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) Additional General Manager Mangala Randeniya told the Sunday Times.
He said the new MoU which is subject to Cabinet approval was necessary in order to crack down on a job mafia operated by unscrupulous local recruiting agents and domestic hands, mainly females, who together have cheated thousands of unsuspecting Arab employers.
These so-called agents are known to offer something like Rs. 150,000 to a female domestic worker to take up employment in an Arab household and later to run away from the employer after a period of three months citing harassment and sexual abuse.
These women later end up in mercy missions set up by the Sri Lankan missions in those countries until they are provided with an exit pass back to Colombo since their passports are held by their employers.
On their return to the country the agents provide them with a fresh visa and passport and they are once again sent overseas where the same cycle is repeated,” Mr. Randeniya said.
He added that this racket had been in existence for many years and that it was not good for the image of the country. “There may however be genuine complaints from the domestic workers but a sizeable number are of a questionable nature”, he said.
He said the new agreement will also provide more rights to the worker-where unlike in the past the individual could retain his/her passport, the wages will be directed to a bank so that there will be no room for default.
A complaint by an individual against an employer will have to be supported by evidence such as medical reports to confirm any physical abuse sexual or otherwise and bank statements which will indicate the pattern of payments, Mr. Randeniya added.
He said that, under the MoU the labour authorities in the receiving countries will also carry out sporadic checks on homes to check on the working and living conditions of the domestic worker.
The new rules also cover workers in 14 categories mainly in the unskilled sector such as those employed in factories, construction sites, desert projects, hotels and related areas.
“There will be zero room for ‘sweat shops’ and other irregularities in the future and the host countries have offered their cooperation towards this end,” he said.
Association of Licensed Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) Secretary Faizer Maickeen told the Sunday Times that the MoU was a good start in protecting the rights of the worker as well as the employer.
“The bulk of the fraud is carried out by rogue agents-some with backing from relevant officialdom where they were allowed to plunder the market and put the image of the country in poor light,” he said.
He said that the most affected country was the oil rich desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia which takes in some 100,000 Sri Lankan workers the bulk being females in the domestic sector, followed by Kuwait and Doha.
“One has to be fair by the sponsor who has to pay something like Rs. 600,000 as agent and other fees to obtain the services of a domestic hand,” Mr. Maickeen said.
He added that a number of foreign licensed recruiting agents operating outside ALFEA were also involved in unscrupulous methods where foreign sponsors were defrauded of millions of rupees.
“The whole idea of this MoU has come at the right time,” he said.
| 3 Lankan women fined for breaking work agreement A court in Saudi Arabia has ordered three Lankan female domestics who arbitrarily broke off their work agreements to pay back Rs. 500,000 each to their employer if they need to get back to their country. |