(Eagle News) — The United Arab Emirates has enacted a new labor law that the Department of Foreign Affairs said will be beneficial to some overseas Filipino workers.
The new law provides for payment of wages within 10 days from the day they are due, 12 hours of rest per day; medical insurance, including 30 medical leaves per year; a round-trip ticket home every two years; one day of paid rest per week; and possession of their personal identification passports; such as passports and IDs, among others, to foreign household workers.
According to the DFA, there are 120,000 overseas Filipino household service workers in the UAE.
There are over 600,000 Filipinos working in the UAE, the DFA said.
“We would like to express our gratitude to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa for this kind gesture that would benefit hundreds of Filipinos working as domestic helpers in the UAE,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a statement.
The law will take effect two months after it is publshed in the Middle Eastern country’s official gazette.