Cairo: Saudi labour authorities have specified regulations for the electronic transfer of house workers via a government platform.
The rules stipulate that the salary should be transferred by the employer via e-wallets and banks accredited by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources, the ministry's Musaned platform responsible for domestic labour affairs in the kingdom.
Other stipulations for the service require that the worker should be on the sponsorship list, issue an iqama or residency permit for him/her, have an authenticated contract on Musaned as well as an account designated for the worker and the employer on one of the wage channels accredited by the ministry.
Domestic workers in Saudi Arabia include housekeepers, drivers, housemaids, cleaners, cooks, guards, farmers, live-in nurses, tutors and nannies.
Saudi authorities have recently sought to regulate the house labour market. To this end, the Ministry of Human Resources set up Musaned to help customers learn about their rights and duties, and associated services including visa issuance, recruitment requests and the contractual relation between the employer and the worker.
The ministry has said it is necessary to conduct contracting via Musaned, being the official recruitment platform.
Last October, Saudi Arabia unveiled new rules for employing domestic labour, setting the worker’s minimum age at 21 years as part of efforts to preserve contractual rights.
The regulations stress that the dues owed to the worker or his/her heirs are deemed first-degree debts. The contract should have a fixed duration; if not, it will be considered renewable for one year from the date the worker starts doing the job.
According to the rules, the house worker’s daily working hours are set at 10 hours and is entitled to weekly paid successive 24-hour rest.
