The Philippines on Wednesday welcomed Qatar’s enactment of a new employment law that the government said would provide better protection to the more than 50,000 Filipino household service workers in the Gulf state.
“We thank and commend the government of Qatar for enacting this progressive legislation” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said.
“This will certainly lead to the recognition, promotion, and protection of the rights of Filipinos and other migrant household service workers in Qatar,” Cayetano added.
The DFA said the coverage of Qatar's new “Domestic Employment Law” has been expanded to now also cover household service workers and provides them with some degree of legal protections.
Under the new law, household service workers are to work for only 10 hours per day, six days a week and are entitled to annual vacations, paid sick leaves and guaranteed breaks for meals and worship.
The new law would benefit more than 50,000 Filipino household service workers.
Philippine Ambassador to Doha Alan Timbayan said there are approximately 246,000 overseas Filipino workers in Qatar, making the Philippines the third biggest country of origin of migrant workers in the country.
