DOHA: Qataris are urging the authorities to set up a state-run recruitment agency that would take care of their interests while bringing housemaids into the country and not engage in fraudulent activities, as is being done by private recruitment firms.
The request comes as the Ministry of Labour is undertaking an inspection campaign this month against recruitment firms to check for irregularities, reported the Arabic daily Al Sharq.
The campaign has largely been welcomed by Qataris, who have mostly borne the brunt of increased recruitment fees for maids.
According to the Ministry of Labour, the offending firms would face fines and closure in case of repeated violation of rules and failure to respond to the inspectors’ notices to rectify the violations.
Most Qataris complain that the firms make false promises that are never fulfilled. Many Qatari sponsors have had to wait for months before the maid arrived in their homes, even though the recruiters had promised that the maid would be sent as soon as the contract was signed.
Walid Al Amadi, a Qatari national, said the firms promised to provide well-trained maids but did not fulfil the promise.
“They announce in papers that their maids have already arrived and when you get to their offices they say that the maids would be arriving in about a week’s time and that they need all the payments made immediately as a commitment,” he said. After the payment is made, the wait gets longer and goes on for months, he said.
He also said that some recruitment firms had the habit of recalling their housemaids after the probation period of three months was over. The maids would allege abuse and the recruitment firms get them other sponsors without having to pay back the expenses of the first sponsor or even sending them a replacement maid.
Al Amadi also said that some recruitment firms did not comply with rules on maids who were unfit to work or had a communicable disease. The law requires that they return such maids to their home countries in two weeks, but instead the recruitment firms often send them to another sponsor, thereby spreading diseases.
Other citizens said that the recruitment companies were taking their Qatari clients for granted because of the absence of a law that protects the sponsor and makes the recruitment firm comply with the agreement signed with the former.
Mohammed Ali, a senior official from the Ministry of Labour, said that the ministry had undertaken several laudable efforts to ensure that recruitment firms complied with labour laws.
He said the ministry was looking at recruitment firms that offered fraudulent contracts to nationals and those that refused to refund nationals when they had to, adding that it would be fining companies that had failed to provide a maid at the time agreed with the sponsor.
He also said that there should be a committee to monitor the activities of recruitment companies, especially with regard to their arbitrary fees.
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