Philippines to resume sending domestic workers to UAE after striking new labor deal

MANILA, Philippines — (Updated 5:55 p.m.) The Philippines will resume sending domestic helpers to the United Arab Emirates beginning March 31 after it struck a new labor deal with the Gulf state, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

DOLE said Manila and Abu Dhabi agreed that new domestic workers who would be deployed to the Gulf state would be covered by a unified employment contract that provides stringent measures to protect them.

Under the unified contract, the employer, and foreign and local recruitment agencies are all liable should anything untoward happen to Filipino workers.

The agreement between the Philippines and the UAE also provides that domestic workers should get to sleep for at least eight hours and get at least a paid day off every week.

It also provides that Filipino domestic workers should be able to keep their passports and other identification documents and that their employers should not be allowed to hold these.

It also states that employers of Filipino domestic workers should allow them to use communication devices such as cellphones, and that they are not allowed to confiscate these.

The deal also says that employers should open a bank account under the name of the Filipino domestic worker for the payment of salary and allow them to cook their own food.

The deployment of Filipino domestic helpers to UAE has been effectively halted since 2014 when the Gulf state stopped foreign embassies from verifying the contracts of their nationals serving as domestic helpers. Contract verification is required under Philippine law.

Then-Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz feared that without contract verification, Filipino domestic helpers might fall prey to human traffickers.