Kuwait: KD2,500 must be minimum salary of Filipinos’ employer

Cairo: The Philippine embassy in Kuwait has set certain terms for endorsing labour contracts related to recruiting Filipino workers including that the foreign employer’s salary should not be less than KD2,500 (Dh30,550) to safeguard employees’ financial rights, according to a local newspaper.

After a hiatus, the embassy has resumed endorsed recruitment contracts reached between offices hiring Filipino domestic workers and prospective foreign employers residing in Kuwait, provided these contracts meet certain stipulations, Al Jarida newspaper added, quoting owners of recruitment offices.

These stipulations include the necessity that the monthly minimum salary of the foreign resident wishing to employ a Filipino worker should be KD2,500, a work permit in English issued by the Public Authority for Manpower as well as a signed pledge from the owner of the recruitment office of bearing the worker’s salary in case the employer violates stipulations of the contract, the report said.

The paper, citing “well-informed sources”, said the embassy wants to set clear-cut rules for Kuwaiti and expatriate employers of Filipinos to head off repetition of problems that were experienced by domestic workers in the past years, mainly those related to financial entitlements, including wages. There was no immediate comment from the Philippine embassy.

The Philippines enforced a ban on sending new domestic workers to Kuwait back in January 2020, after a Filipino domestic worker was sexually abused and killed by her employer.