Ethiopian African House Maid
For illustrative purposes only. Image Credit: Agency

Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s labour authorities have announced the transfer of domestic workers among individuals via a government portal, saying the step is part of efforts to regulate the domestic labour sector and safeguard rights of the parties concerned.

The Ministry of Human Resources said that the new service available via the Musaned platform allows individuals to transfer domestic labour services from the current employer to a new one through easy electronic steps based on recruitment rules and after consent of all parties to the contractual relation, i.e. the current employer, the employee and the new employer.

The payment process is conducted via accredited e-payment channels on the platform in line with fee limits set by the ministry.

The measure is set to preserve rights of the employer and employee on the transfer by issuing a work contract of a specified duration, the ministry said.

The maximum transfer fees among individuals have been set on the platform as follows: SR10,023 for workers from Ethiopia; SR10,457 from Burundi; SR10,488 from Sri Leone; SR12,761 from Uganda;SR14,135 from Kenya; SR16,188 from Bangladesh; SR18,336 from Sri Lanka; SR19,270 from the Philippines; and SR21,535 from Indonesia.

Saudi labour authorities have recently sought to regulate the domestic labour market in the kingdom.

To this end, the ministry launched Musaned, a platform responsible for domestic labour, to help customers learn about their rights and duties, and related 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 the Musaned, being the official recruitment platform.

Domestic workers in the kingdom include housekeepers, drivers, housemaids, cleaners, cooks, guards, farmers, tailors, live-in nurses, tutors and nannies.