Sponsorship transfer fees should be paid by new employer: MoL

Abu Dhabi - Fees for transfer of sponsorship should be met by the new sponsor, not the worker, as per provisions of the labour law, the Ministry of Labour (MoL) has affirmed.

Jasim Mohammed Jamil, acting Director of Work Relations at the ministry, said on Tuesday: "Many workers fall victim to their ignorance of the law and pay fees for transfer of sponsorship. Sometimes, the new employer does the transaction but deducts the fees from the worker's salary. This is a flagrant breach of the labour law which stipulates that it is the new sponsor who should bear the cots of the transaction." Jamil was reacting to an Arab woman who escorted a Filipina tailor working under her sponsorship to the ministry premises in Abu Dhabi, demanding the labour officials to exempt her from paying the fees of sponsorship transfer.

The labour officials said the fees were imposed by a Cabinet resolution and the ministry had no authority to exempt any foreign worker from that.

"The would-be employer should bear all expenses and fees of recruiting the worker, including transfer of sponsorship. Otherwise he is violating the law," he added.

"A firm that forces its workers to pay that fees will face a series of penalties amounting to closure of the company and downgrading its status to the lower group. It will also be referred to the labour court," Jamil elaborated.

He demanded the workers who paid the fees submit documents in their hands so as the ministry could oblige their erring employers to pay them back or to face legal action, he added.

Khaleejtimes, 22 September 2010