Sponsors Are Responsible For Feeding And Clothing Domestic Workers

Minister of Justice Jamal Al-Jalawi announced Ministerial Decision No. 22/2022 on the executive rules of Law 68/2015 pertaining to domestic employees, revising parts of the previous regulations and introducing new ones, which will take effect today, Sunday.

According to a local Arabic daily, the Public Authority for Manpower approved, in Article 38 of the new regulation, the conditions for transferring a domestic worker from one employer to another using the force of law, based on a variety of reasons, including the death of the employer, the separation of spouses, the loss of the employer's eligibility conditions, proof of committing an act, statement or gesture with a sexual connotation issued by the employer or those residing with him to the employer's death, the death of a domestic worker.

The regulation added a new requirement to issue licenses for offices to practice the profession of recruiting domestic workers from abroad in Article Three, Clause Five, which is "to submit an unconditional, irrevocable letter of guarantee of 40,000 dinars for offices and institutions, and 100,000 dinars for companies," which was not specified in the previous regulation. A letter of assurance in the name of the Authority should be provided by a local bank.

The new law forbade any deduction from the worker's compensation in any situation, safeguarding his or her rights and requiring the employer to "feed, clothe, treat, and nurse the domestic worker," and PAM increased the minimum wage for domestic workers to 75 dinars.

In order to provide more protection for workers, the authority prohibited "filing of an absconding report against the domestic worker after submitting a complaint to the competent department, provided that he/she is registered with the residents of the migrant worker shelter centre, and the ban is considered to be lifted two months after the complaint is settled or referred to the competent judiciary."

Article 31 imposes a punishment of 10 dinars per month on the employer who fails to pay his domestic worker's salary on the seventh day after the due date, in addition to the wages owed.

The statute specifies

— After working for 11 months, an annual leave of at least 30 days with compensation is required.

— A compensated weekly relaxation day of 24 hours after every six working days.

— No more than two and a half hours of overtime every day.

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