THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) temporarily suspended the deployment of newly hired household service workers (HSW) to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) pending the revisions in their standard employment contract.
Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H, Bello III said he issued a memorandum on November 25 implementing the suspension after a retired Saudi general, Ayed Thawah Al Jealid, was able to repeatedly hire HSWs despite having a history of abusing Filipino employees.
Al Jealid was able to circumvent the verification rules of POEA and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) by using a “pseudo employer” in the employment contract of his HSWs.
“To avoid this situation where the HSW will be assigned to an employer, who is previously blacklisted, the new verification guidelines will require that the exact address of the employer’s house in KSA will be stated in the employment contract,” Bello said.
“So under the new verification guidelines, it is not only the employer who is blacklisted but also the address of the employer,” he added.
POEA said the suspension will not apply to the verification of renewed contracts of HSWs.
Also not covered by the processing and verification of employment documents relating to hiring of skilled workers are those to be deployed for “mega and construction companies.”
POEA said it will lift the suspension once the new guidelines for the deployment of newly hired HSWS is finalized and implemented.
In September, five of Al Jealid’s previously employed OFWs, went to the media and announced they want to file cases against him after they suffered abuse in his household.
This prompted the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and POEA to investigate the case.