Sponsors Forcing Domestic Workers To Stay In Country, Renewing Residency Permits Online Against Her Will

While one of the positive repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic was the switch to online government services to protect the employee and the expat from the virus, it had the unfortunate side effect of domestic workers being forced into something like house arrest, Al Rai reported.

A number of workers in the domestic workers’ recruitment sector complained about a new threat against Kuwait’s reputation in front of the international community. This new phenomenon is domestic workers being forced to work in homes after the sponsors prevented them from leaving or transferring to another sponsor by renewing their visas without their consent. This is in light of the great shortage the local market suffers from due to the halt in flights and suspension of new visas.

At the beginning of November, Al-Rai shed light on the issue of domestic worker exploitation and pointed out fake offices that circumvent the law by providing domestic workers at amounts of up to KD400 dinars per month per worker. This is done by exploiting the Kuwaiti families’ need, forcing them to pay a finders fee to the office in addition to the salary. Instead of addressing and finding solutions, the situation appears to have worsened, and the new phenomenon begins to emerge, which is forcing workers to continue working as the sponsors are allowed to renew their residency visas online.

Although the government procedures and controls in place in this regard stipulate that the residency of the domestic worker should not be renewed except with her presence and approval, the procedure before coronavirus also neglected that part. After the automation of the residency renewal systems were started, the sponsor could renew his domestic worker’s visa without her approval, which allowed for conditions reported to be akin to “forced labor.”

The Three Problems

1 – Not requiring the submission of the contract to renew residency since before the coronavirus.

2 – Non-enforcement of the decision for the presence of the domestic worker during the renewal or transfer of residency visas.

3 – The violation of the requirement for the domestic workers’ approval during the online renewal process.

Three Solutions

1 – Attach the work contract signed by the domestic worker upon residency renewal online.

2 – To match his signature on the contract with his signature on the passport through the website.

3 – Contact the domestic worker and ensure that she agrees and is not subjected to any pressures.

Bassam Al-Shammari: The crisis extends to about half of the total domestic workers

Bassam Al-Shammari, the owner of a domestic labor recruitment company, warned of the negative repercussions of the online shift in renewing domestic workers’ residency permits, as it opened the door wide for sponsors to force domestic workers to work against their will, which may lead to the projection of a negative image of Kuwait to the international community.

Al-Shammari told Al-Rai daily that with the spread of the Coronavirus and the state agencies are moving towards automating their systems, residence permits could be renewed online once the feature was made available.

However, the renewal process did not differentiate between those holding residency visa Article (20), who are domestic workers and those working in their position, and the other types of residency visas. He stressed that the distinction in the type of residence is a fundamental matter, especially since the work contract of domestic workers is a fixed-term contract, which may only be renewed with the consent of the domestic worker herself, and in her presence before the concerned authorities to validate her approval before the residency visa is renewed.

He pointed out that the restrictions imposed by the Coronavirus, from restricting flights and stopping entry visas, have prompted more than half of the total domestic workers in the country (estimated at 745,000) to be troubled by the problem of having their work contracts being forcibly renewed without their consent, especially with the halt to the recruitment for new workers, and there is also the fact domestic workers in Kuwait are currently leaving the country for one reason or another.

In detail, the suspension of domestic workers’ recruitment pushed the sponsors to restrict the freedom for domestic workers to choose to continue working after the end of their work contracts, due to the lack of an alternative. This forces the weaker party to continue working without her consent as the residency renewal services are conducted online, which does not require a new work contract from the embassy, as is the case of the recruitment procedures.

Noting the repercussions of restricting the freedom of domestic workers began to appear evident in many offices, he pointed out that they receive dozens of complaints daily from workers in this regard, as renewals are done for them against their will, and they have no other option.

Al-Shammari indicated that the current system in force allows the sponsor to renew the domestic workers’ residency, without the need for review by the concerned authorities, which invalidates the procedure as the consent of the domestic worker is not taken into account, and there is no assurance that she has not been coerced to agree to the renewal. Consent cannot be ascertained unless she appears before the relevant government agency.

He emphasized that the online renewal by the sponsor allows him to have absolute power without oversight, especially since there is no guarantee that he will fulfill the dues of the domestic worker for the period of work that ended before the renewal, as well as fulfill the agreed leave.

Two reasons for the problem, Bassam Al-Shammari said, that this problem appeared as a result of two main reasons: 1 – The transfer of supervisory authority and the overlapping of specializations, as the powers and authority to supervise this sector were transferred from the Ministry of Interior to the Public Authority for Manpower, which was followed by some kind of overlapping of specializations.

2 – Legal adaptation embedded into the online trasfer system, as the online system on its face is a good step that enriches the life of Kuwaiti society as a whole, but there is presently no legal controls that pertain to each sector separately, which is a legal loophole that will result in greater problems in the near future.

Vicious circles … and lost rights

Bassam Al-Shammari pointed out that the other legal problems that domestic workers are currently going through regarding the collection of their dues have entered a vicious circle, as workers cannot leave without obtaining all their dues, and there are guarantors who refuse to pay those dues.

He stated that one of the domestic workers housed in the shelter center, has not received a month’s salary of KD 125 dinars from her sponsor, and while her sponsor refuses to pay, this worker has been forced to remain in the shelter center for about three months, and she cannot travel before fulfilling her rights, consequently, her stay may be extended.

“Many clung to their workers and kept them after the end of their contracts.”

Khaled Al-Dakhnan: The residency renewal online gave sponsors the authority to control the domestic worker

Khaled Al-Dakhnan, head of the Federation of Domestic Workers’ Offices, said that “the crisis created under the coronavirus pandemic in the domestic labor market naturally pushed a rise in the prices of available labor, as well as their wages and the introduction of mechanisms by other companies to take advantage by raising the wages of workers by twice the prices.”

Al-Dakhnan added that “there is a great variation in the citizens’ ability to bear the costs of domestic labor, in light of the new changes that have occurred in companies following the spread of the Coronavirus. This prompted many to cling to their domestic workers, and to keep them after the end of their contracts, as a result of the lack of an alternative to take over her place.”

He pointed out that before Coronavirus, domestic workers residency permits used to be renewed, without their presence to show their approval for renewal, until the matter became a custom in force, although it contravenes the regulations set in this regard, which requires the worker to come personally with the sponsor for the transaction.”

He noted, “With the online transfer, there is no longer a requirement for the embassy contract that guarantees the approval of the worker, or the presence of the worker for renewal before the concerned authority.

Highlighting that the matter allows for sponsors to restrict the freedom of workers and prevent them from leaving, he pointed out that they have the power to renew (online) despite protests from the domestic worker, and without being monitored.

Al-Dakhnan stressed, “the necessity for the state to implement renewal regulations for domestic workers in a manner that ensures they will not be forced to work after the end of their contracts, by verifying that they agree to renew work contracts in a manner that guarantees they obtained all their dues.”

Nayef Al-Shammari: The need to ensure that the worker agrees and is not subjected to any pressure

Nayef Al-Shammari, the owner of a domestic labor recruitment company, confirmed, “The benefit of online residency permits renewal remains subject to the introduction of legal regulations, in order to guarantee the rights of the parties concerned. There may be fears of exploiting the domestic workers, but this will only happen in very narrow frameworks, especially as the domestic worker can resort to her embassy or the concerned Kuwaiti authorities and obtain her” rights.

He stressed that “due to the adherence to social distancing measures, it is not conceivable that there are large numbers of domestic workers and their sponsors entering the site for renewals, but to ensure the rights of all workers from being tampered with, we, as labor market representatives, previously highlighted to the Ministry of Interior, that an online feature must be made available to compare the signature of the domestic worker in the passport and her signature on the contract, indicating that attaching the work contract signed by the worker when renewing the residency ends the argument for the possibility the domestic worker having their contract renewed without full consent.

Al-Shammari noted that a cautionary measure can be taken where the domestic worker is contacted directly by the concerned competent authority within a framework of regulations, to make sure she has verbally agreed and is not subjected to any pressure from her sponsors, in order to achieve the required assurance that the worker is obtaining all her rights and she works with complete satisfaction.”

 

SOURCE : TIMES KUWAIT

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