Challenges of law on domestic workers Thursday, 21 October 2010 03:16

The talk about passing a law to regulate the affairs of domestic workers is gaining momentum in the media.

There is no doubt that the noise caused by the subject shows the pressing need to pass a law regulating the relationship between house workers, families employing them and offices.

Moreover, the nature of domestic work is characterized by severe privacy. It goes beyond a working relationship passing through a particular time or on certain days, but the servants are living with the sponsors under their care and direct responsibility. They eat and drink with them moving from one place to another. Servants cannot be separated or treated as the employee or the employee in company or organisation. The matter is more complicated and deeper than that.

This unique nature makes it hard to enact a law regulating this relationship and plot details but it is not impossible.

The matter becomes more difficult if we look to the culture and religion of people of the Gulf and their conservative customs and traditions. On the contrary, you find servants coming with their country’s cultures, customs and traditions that do not conform with the customs and traditions of the host country. It is logical that the customs and traditions of the host must prevail and servants shall be committed to the culture of the employer and respect traditions and customs, knowing that the Arab Gulf region is characterised as the largest labour market.

In this context, Gulf Cooperation Council states seek for the issuance of a consolidated law for servants, but it is long-awaited, which prompted some states to try to enact a special law for this category until they agree on a consolidated law. Kuwait is the first State which enacts a law for house workers then Bahrain has applied certain articles of the Labour Act to domestic service. However, the problems associated with this category have not yet finished and law has not been able to eliminate problems of servants in these countries.

In Qatar, expatriates are subject to the Sponsorship Act No. 4 / 2009 which regulates entry, residence and exit of the crowds that come for work

Human Resources Law No. 8 / 2009 applies to workers in government agencies as the Labour Code No. 14/2004 applies employers and workers, defines their rights and duties and regulate the relations among them.

House workers such as drivers, maids, cooks and gardners are excluded from the application of this law. All and some provisions of this Law shall be applied to and may be applied to workers in homes by a decision of the Council of Ministers.

There is no doubt that the application of law to workers in both government and private sector represents a safe umbrella and haven for workers and employers alike as the rights provided for in the Labour Law No. 14/2004 represents the minimum rights of workers. Any condition contrary to the provisions of this law shall be null and void, even if it was before the date of law execution, unless more beneficial to the worker. All discharge, reconciliation or a waiver of rights arising out of the worker shall be null and void under this law.

In the absence of a decision by the Council of Ministers on the application of all or some of the provisions of the Labour Law No. 14/2004 on the workers in homes and in the rule until now. This category exposure vulnerability to manipulation and a fertile environment for human trafficking and the lack of regulations or constraints governing the employment relationship affects them and makes them vulnerable to the personal whims and weaker party is controlled by the other party. This legal vacuum is in the interest of the offices which have become trafficking servants without constraints.

Reasons of using house workers:

In view of the Gulf of women going out to work and low wages of domestic workers, it is difficult to find a house in the Gulf without a driver, cook or at least one maid to educate children and care for the home.

With rising criticism of the communities of the Gulf because of ill-treatment of domestic servants and in the rule of foreign workers and there is no law protects them, the Gulf governments started to enact laws and legislation that would improve its international reputation, both in the International Labour Organization, or organizations concerned with human rights and migrant workers at the international level.

House Workers Law will see the light soon in Qatar. According to news releases in Qatar, a special committee has been formed by the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers for the preparation and reviewing the final draft of the House Workers Law where the committee is comprised of representatives from several ministries and various authorities in the country, including the Ministry of Labour, Ministry of the Interior, the National Human Rights Committee and the General Secretariat for Development Planning. The formation of this committee comes to confirm the general direction to expedite the completion of the law of the servants, because it is important for this category, which is not covered by labour law. This Law will take into account the interest of the sponsor and the house workers, which will have the jurisdiction and legal accountability to address important issues and will be issued along with executive regulations.

The most important features of the House Workers Law have included several articles organising all the rights and duties of the workers in homes, including the process of recruitment, contracting and disbursement of benefits, holidays and the number of working hours as well as the procedures for employing servants and domestic workers through the offices of manpower licensed in the State.

The draft law includes the need to regulate the working relationship between sponsors and this large category of labourers through contracts of employment to be documented in order to preserve the rights of the parties at the outbreak of any disputes between them. It also defines the terms of the agreement between these workers including the agreement on wages and annual leave tickets. The draft law will state the need to give domestic labourers the end of service gratuities like their counterparts working in institutions and private sector companies who are entitled to the end of service gratuity provided for specifically in employment contracts. The Department of Labour ratifies such contracts only if they meet all the conditions such as the rights of workers in the private sector provided by the Labour Law. House workers draft law will emphasise the need to provide health care for this large segment of labours in the State. the peninsula