By Mohammed Al-Abdullah

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

DAMMAM — The Ministry of Labor and Social Development has made it mandatory on recruitment offices and companies to receive the housemaids who are arriving in the Kingdom for the first time warning them that failure to do so will subject them to SR5,000 fine.

The ministry said the responsibility of receiving the housemaids at the airports lies entirely on the shoulders of the recruitment offices and companies who should also provide interpretation in the language of the housemaid.

The ministry has introduced a new unified work contract starting early July in which the recruitment offices will be fined SR20,000 in case the arrival of the housemaid is delayed by 90 days or more.

It said after receiving them at the airports, the offices will have to hand over the housemaids to their employers and should inform the ministry if the employers did not pick them up for two weeks.

The ministry also made it imperative on the recruitment offices to provide accommodation to the housemaids in the same city in which they are located.

It said the accommodation should be easily accessible and approved by the Civil Defense.

Industry sources said the offices are now conducting negotiations with the ministry to reduce the fine to SR500.