DOLE lifts deployment ban on HSWs to Kuwait
by Leslie Ann AquinoThe Department of Labor and Employment DOLE) announced on Friday the lifting of the deployment ban on household service workers (HSWs) to Kuwait.
The government earlier imposed the total deployment ban to Kuwait following the death of OFW Jeanelyn Villavende.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced last week the partial lifting of the deployment ban of Filipino workers to Kuwait except for HSWs.
The labor chief that time cited the recent signing of the harmonized standardized employment contract for HSW as the reason for the partial lifting.
Bello said the standardized contract of employment will ensure the welfare and protection of OFWs in the gulf state.
The salient provisions of the standard employment contract include prohibition for employers to keep any of the worker’s personal identity documents such as passport, and the entitlement of a worker to own a phone and use it outside the working hours provided that she keeps the secrets and privacy of the household, and use such phone in a manner consistent with public morals to mention a few.
Earlier, the labor chief imposed two conditions for the total lifting of the ban: the consensus on the harmonized standardized employment contract and justice for Villavende.