DOLE warns OFWs in Kuwait against changing employers

The Department of Labor and Employment has advised Overseas Filipino Workers in Kuwait that they are no longer allowed to transfer from one employer to another or find other jobs while they are there starting October 1.

Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo Brion said that Kuwait-based Labor Attache Leopoldo de Jesus reported that the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior issued a new directive which prohibits the transfer of residence of domestic workers to other sponsors or employers. The new directive would also oblige employers to pay for the repatriation ticket and surrender the passport of the foreign domestic workers who run away, regardless of the number of months the workers had stayed with them.

Brion said that the new directive cancelled the previous one that allowed domestic workers to transfer from one sponsor to another, as many times as they wish while still in Kuwait.

He welcomed the new regulation, saying it would put an end to the old practice wherein employers keep the domestic workers' passport, and later on collect release money in exchange for the passport of those who run away from them.

In a press advisory, Brion warned that those who run away from their original sponsors will immediately be deported. He said it has been a practice by some adventurous OFWs to run away from their original employers and look for other jobs while still in Kuwait.

Meanwhile, Brion said that despite the Lebanon crisis, more overseas markets in the Middle East and other areas are opening up for OFWs.

He said that significant overseas developments are propelling the vibrant global demand for skilled OFWs.

Brion cited the plan of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which currently hosts some 1.2 million OFWs, to build several new cities, and the move of the Libyan economy to absorb more skilled Filipino workers.

Brion also said that the government is taking steps, through appropriate training and upgrading, and by strengthening the country's reintegration program, to ensure that the increased overseas demand for skilled Filipino workers will not lead to "brain drain."

He said that the government has reinforced training and upgrading for OFWs to ensure proper terms, wages, and other working