DOHA: The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is all set to launch an inspection campaign targeting manpower agencies that provide domestic workers.
It is a massive inspection drive being waged in September and the idea is to ensure that manpower agencies providing housemaids to families comply with all the provisions of the labour
law.
It will also be made sure that the manpower agencies follow guidelines regarding recruitment of maids issued by the labour ministry from time to time.
Al Sharq reported yesterday that the labour ministry had a research unit that conducts extensive studies of complaints filed by people, both citizens and expatriates, against manpower agencies.
“The unit has, after these studies, come out with the reasons why people feel aggrieved and file complaints against manpower agencies,” Al Sharq said.
Complaints mostly involve accusations about manpower agencies charging high fees, providing maids who run away after a while, and not providing substitute maids to replace the runaway maids.
Al Sharq said that the inspection drive being launched next month does not mean that all agencies flout regulations and there are complaints against all of them. “There are good agencies as well.”
The idea behind the drive is to ask erring agencies as to why they cannot mend their ways and work within the framework of rules so that people don’t file complaints against them.
According to the daily, once the ministry gets a complaint against a manpower agency, it redresses it within three days.
The ministry gets many complaints through its hotline (8006611).
THE PENINSULA
