The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has called on employers, UAE nationals and residents to deal with MoHRE-approved domestic workers’ recruitment agencies to employ workers and avoid dealing with social media pages that promote illegal employment.

As the month of Ramadan approaches, the demand for domestic workers’ employment, especially those who perform their work at home, surges, The Ministry said. “Therefore, unreliable pages and accounts on social media start promoting this kind of employment to attract those looking to hire domestic workers.”

In a statement, the Ministry warned of the legal consequences as well as social and health risks when dealing with unapproved agencies, especially in terms of obtaining untrained domestic workers and the lack of any guarantees, unlike what is provided by the agencies by the Ministry.

“This is in addition to the possibility of the employers and their family members be exposed to infectious diseases due to the lack of evidence of the violating domestic worker being free from any health conditions or disease. The domestic worker could be a law violator, which would add to the risks,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry also called on customers to contact the call centre on 600590000 to verify the reliability of the agencies that promote domestic workers through social media.

“There are 80 domestic worker recruitment offices approved by the Ministry across the country, and they can be accessed from the list of approved offices via the Ministry’s website and social media pages. These offices work in line with the Federal Decree-Law No. (9) of 2022 Regarding Domestic Workers that came into force on 15 December 2022.”

The approved offices provide a “traditional package,” in which the worker is registered on the employer’s file and resides with them during the contract period of two years. During this period, the agency guarantees the domestic worker so that the employer can replace the worker or recover the recruitment costs if any of the four cases occur during the first six months of the contract (trial period). This includes the termination of the contract by the worker without a legitimate reason, or the domestic worker leaving work without an acceptable reason, or the worker being unfit for the role, or the worker being unable to carry out work tasks as required and agreed upon.

Part of the recruitment costs are recovered during the post-trial period until the end date of the contract if the worker terminates the contract after the trial period or leaves work without an acceptable or legitimate reason. These amounts are calculated out of the total recruitment cost as per the balance months from the total of two years’ contractual period.

Recruitment offices also offer the “temporary package,” whereby a trained and qualified domestic worker is provided within 24 hours, and this worker is registered with the agency for a contractual period of two years, during which the worker is not allowed to move as a resident domestic worker.

The agencies also offer the “flexible package,” which provides a flexible-based work pattern (hours-days-week-month) and the cost of recruitment is calculated as per the nature of work. This package has a set of advantages that include providing qualified and trained domestic workers and an unlimited number of replacements. The period of providing the worker is within 24 hours.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation also renewed its call for employers to register their domestic workers in the Wage Protection System (WPS).

The Ministry stated that registering in the system and paying the wages of domestic workers who work in all professions is an available option for employers. The Ministry added that starting from 1 April, five professions must be registered in the system – private agricultural engineer, Public Relations Officer (PRO), housekeeper, personal tutor, and personal trainer.

Domestic workers who have a pending labour complaint, or are unemployed, or have a registered notice of absence-from-work are excluded from being registered, as well as domestic workers who are yet to complete 30 days since the start of their employment contract.

The 19 domestic worker professions are a housemaid, sailor/boatman, security guard, household shepherd, household horse groomer, household falcon trainer, physical labour worker, housekeeper, cook, nanny/babysitter, farmer, gardener, personal driver, private agricultural engineer, Public Relations Officer (PRO), personal nurse, personal tutor, and personal trainer.