Official Seeks Mental Health Check for Domestic Workers in UAE

Abu Dhabi: A member of the UAE’s Federal National Council will suggest to authorities that domestic workers undergo mental health and police background checks.

Salem Ali Al Shehi, rapporteur of the Defense, Home and Foreign Affairs Committee at the House, was quoted as saying by Gulf News he will submit a motion to the House after its summer recess ending in late October requiring that domestic workers, including housemaids, family chauffeurs, private sailors, household shepherds and farmers undergo mental health and police background checks and that the workers’ probationary period be increased to one year to allow employers to get to know their hired help better, check their character and behavior, and their ability to carry out their duties.

Al Shehi, a member from Ras Al Khaimah, reportedly said his proposal was prompted by personal experiences and stories told by other constituents about a good segment of a population that outnumbers family members in nearly a quarter of Emirati families.
He reportedly said he had to send a housemaid back to the replacement agency after she showed mental impairments including unstable and threatening behaviour, and failed to do household chores and other activities associated with everyday life.
“The domestic help have to undergo mental health evaluations and those judged mentally defective or committed to a mental institution should not be allowed to take the job. A mental health check will help protect our families from those mentally ill workers,” Al Shehi was quoted as saying.

A motion has to be adopted by the House and submitted to the Cabinet for approval.

There are around 750,000 domestic workers in the UAE, making up nearly 20 percent of the expatriate workforce, according to the Ministry of Interior’s statistics at the end of 2007. As many as 65 percent of them are based in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. They outnumber family members in 22 percent of Emirati families.

“As an employer, it’s my right to know that the person I am hiring has no criminal record. You wouldn’t want a person with a criminal record to handle your children,” Al Shehi was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
Placement agencies have to ensure that domestic workers are informed of their terms and conditions of employment, such as the nature of work, the usual workplace and the remuneration, according to a domestic workers contract that came into force in 2014, said the news portal.

Al Shehi reportedly said his proposal was also prompted by the rising number of absconding domestic workers which, he said, have security and social implications for the employer’s family and the entire society “because nobody knows where the housemaid may go or what she would do to stay out of sight”.

Al Shehi also reportedly wants the workers’ probationary period to be increased to one year to allow employers to get to know their hired worker better, check their character and behaviour, and their ability to carry out tasks.
“The sponsor returns the hired help to the placement agency if they do not get on and gets his money back,” Al Shehi was quoted as saying by Gulf News.

(Source: FilipinoTimes.ae)