Doha

Several members of the local community have blamed recruitment agencies for housemaids deserting their employers, particularly at times like the holy month of Ramadan and the back to school season.

Local Arabic daily Arrayah carried the opinions of some Qataris and managers of recruiting agencies on this controversial issue, with each party blaming the other for the phenomenon. While some locals complained that recruitment agencies played a key role in encouraging maids to abscond, recruitment company officials said the sponsors are responsible for such action by the domestic workers.

The sponsors felt that recruiters advised newly-arrived maids to be compliant for the first three months of the trial period and they could do whatever they liked after that. "In such a scenario, the recruiter would not incur any loss as the maid has successfully completed the guarantee period."

Abdulrahman al-Muttawah said that an absconding maid may cost her sponsor as much as QR30, 000. He added that some maids started to create trouble after the passage of the trial period. "After that they either run away or ask to be repatriated at the cost of the sponsor. In such a case, the employer has a hard time looking for a new maid and meet the high cost of recruitment as well."

The instances of maids running away from their employers are more common during Ramadan and the back to school season when there is a sudden spurt in their work load, sources said.

Al-Muttawah further suggested that the guarantee period should be extended to six months, besides opening up the market for recruitment by adding more countries.

However, Mohamed Mahmoud, manager of a recruitment agency, said that extension of the guarantee period would not solve the problem in any way. "Besides, it is the behaviour of the sponsor and his family towards the maid that determines the course of action that the domestic help takes -either to stay in the job or run away."

He pointed out that there were various types of domestic workers who are assigned different jobs like that of nurses, cleaners, cooks or nannies. "But some sponsors press hard on them and make them do all tasks. This makes them more prone to quit the job and not willing to go on." In addition, he denied that the recruitment agencies could benefit in any way from helping maids to abscond; on the contrary it harms the reputation of their office, he opined.

Meanwhile, Nabil al-Khatir, another Qatari man, pointed out that the three months guarantee period was not enough, accusing recruiters of supporting maids to run away and find employment with a different sponsor. He suggested that absconding maids should be given hard penalties so long as the sponsor has abided by his obligations.

Another Qatari man Salem al-Merri stressed that the new sponsors of absconding maids should be subjected to severe punishment, Arrayah added.