Labor ministry clarifies the recruitment cost of migrant workers and threats recruitment agencies

The labor ministry lately received frequent queries concerning the employment of migrant women domestic workers (MWDWs) particularly on terms related to the recruitment costs; salaries and especially the deduction of the first two or three months of the worker’s salary that should be transferred to the recruitment agency, and allegedly encouragements to MWDWs by recruitment agencies to flee their employers’ homes and join the agencies in working per hour. In response, the Labor Ministry issued yesterday a statement clearing up the following: Firstly, the prior approval fee for the MWDW (fourth category) is LBP 36 thousand; the fee for workers (of the third category) is LBP 120 thousand; the fee for workers (of the first and second category) is LBP 600 thousand. Secondly, on the issue of deducted salary mentioned above, the statement urged domestic employers to pay the agreed salary directly to the migrant worker or otherwise face prosecution. Thirdly, on the issues of flight of MWDWs from their employers, the ministry threatened to punish the perpetrators and accomplices and to terminate the license of the violating agency. In this context, the labor ministry announced that it has decided to shut down 8 agencies for failing to comply with the above conditions, expressing its readiness to receive related complaints at its departments in Beirut and the provinces. A reminder that the 24/24 hotline for the ministry is (1740). (Al Diyar, August 9, 2016)