Filipino Domestic Workers in UAE Soon To Have Weekly Day-Off and Yearly Paid Leaves!

The Federal National Council (FNC) of the United Arab Emirates has approved a draft federal law on domestic workers.

Under the law, domestic helpers in UAE including Filipinos could soon be entitled to receive a weekly day-off.

According to Emirates New Agency, also known as WAM, the FNC aims to establish a relationship between employers, domestic workers, and recruitment offices.

Read More: Domestic Worker Rights Favored In The 2017 UAE Labor Law

Under the law are the following provisions for all domestic workers to enjoy while working in UAE

1. The mandated 30 days annual paid leave

2. The right to retain personal documents such as passport

3. Daily rest of at least 12 hours, including eight consecutive hours

The proposed legislation shall also protect domestic helpers against physical or verbal sexual abuse, human trafficking, and forced labor.

Read More: Traffic Rules and Fines in the UAE

Earlier, foreign diplomats express concern about the flight of domestic workers working in UAE. This is also the reason why there is a proposal for the legislation that was approved during the 17th session of the second ordinary session of the 16th legislative chapter at its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, chaired by Dr. Amal Abdullah Al Qubaisi, Speaker of FNC.

According to Human Rights Watch Report in 2014 regarding abuse of domestic workers in UAE.

Most of the 99 domestic workers interviewed said that their employers had confiscated their passports to ensure they would not escape. Many said that their employers forced them to work long hours, up to 21 hours a day, with no rest breaks and no day off; did not pay them their full salaries, if they paid at all; gave them little or spoiled food; shouted at them daily; and in some cases, even physically or sexually abused them. Some of these abuses amounted to forced labor or trafficking.

Hundreds of thousands of domestic workers are working in the UAE. They are from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Ethiopia.

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DH in Hong Kong? Remind Your Employer on "No Work on Rest Day Policy"

For household workers, when we say "Rest Day" it should really mean a 24 hour day of rest or "Day Off" when you are entitled to have a time for yourself free from doing work that you are being paid.

Vice Consul Alex Vallespin in Hong Kong have reminded domestic helpers or household workers to remind their employees that are entitled and it is mandatory to have a 24-hour rest day for every period of seven days of work.

The 24-hour period also starts from the midnight of the rest day up until the midnight of the following day.

Vallespin also said that Hong Kong Labour and Immigration departments agreed that the rest period for Filipino domestic workers should be flexible if their duties include taking care of ailing members of the family at night.


“The Labour Department said daily rest of domestic helpers depends on their job responsibility. If the helper is taking care of a patient, then continuous rest is not applicable. Helpers who take care of patients at night should be given time to rest during daytime,” he said.

Vallespin said they will bring to the Technical Working Group, a meeting among Philippine officials and Hong Kong’s Labour and Immigration officials, the issues of food allowance and rest hours of Filipino domestic workers.

In the last celebration of International Migrants Day in Hong Kong a group of migrant workers turned over to the office of Hong Kong Chief Executive C.Y. Leung a petition asking for standardized working hours, particularly “11 hours of uninterrupted rest.”


(Domestic helpers gather on their day off in Hong Kong)

(Domestic helpers gather on their day off in Hong Kong)

Emma Villanueva, the chairman of Bayan Hong Kong and Macau said that the petition was not just signed by migrant workers from the Philippines but also from Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal.

“We are asking the government to give us 11 hours of uninterrupted rest,” Villanueva said in an interview.

Vallespin added that as long as there are a valid clamor and mass support for 11 hours of uninterrupted rest for domestic workers, they will bring it up to TWG.

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