NEWLY hired domestic workers will have to sign a standard contract stating their rights and duties before arriving in Bahrain.
Starting from next month, recruitment agencies and Bahraini sponsors will have to present the signed documents through a new online portal before they obtain a work permit for a housemaid.
The move, spearheaded by the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), aims to regulate the professional relationship between employers, recruitment agencies and domestic workers.
LMRA chief executive Ausamah Al Absi said the plan was to introduce the new online system to issue work permits for domestic workers from next month.
“We are still completing the final testing phase before the system goes live by next month,” he told the GDN.
“It will be mandatory for the recruitment agency or the sponsor to submit an (online) copy of the job contract that should be signed by the domestic worker in order to process the application.”
The contract states key details such as daily working hours and weekly day off (including inside the household) that should be declared by the employer.
In addition, the contract gives employers a preference to hire a maid who can speak Arabic or English, and clear out terms and conditions before the worker arrives from her home country.
“It will be mandatory for every new housemaid to sign this contract and know about their job description in Bahrain,” added Mr Al Absi.
The move is part of plans to register biometrics and other details of domestic workers at the LMRA counters at Bahrain International Airport, in addition to the issuance of smart cards and residence permit stickers on passports.
Under the existing system employers have to go through four steps: Selecting a worker from one of the licensed manpower agencies, submitting an online application to the LMRA, issuing a smart card from the Information and eGovernment Authority, and issuing a no objection certificate from the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs.
“We will reduce all these steps into one single transaction once the new system is introduced by early February,” said Mr Al Absi.
He also explained that the LMRA was “still updating” its records of domestic workers ahead of the new system’s roll out.
These records, he said, were of employers who did not complete the process of issuing residence permits by not obtaining smart cards for their housemaids, not placing a residence permit sticker on their passports or not completing their medical examination.
There are around 92,000 domestic workers in the country, which is about 15 per cent of the total expatriates.
The top three nationalities of domestic workers, according to LMRA statistics for the second quarter of last year, were Indians (21,567), Ethiopians (21,306) and Filipinos (20,316).
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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