DHAKA: Bangladesh Embassy officials in Riyadh said that Bangladeshi domestic workers must know their rights and responsibilities before coming to the Saudi Arabia.

The statement from the embassy officials came after a recent report revealed that over 31,993 domestic workers in the Kingdom were registered as absent or escaped in 2013.

According to the sponsorship mechanism, both the worker and the employer have the right to submit a request for investigation regarding disagreements between the two sides to one of the 35 committees throughout the Kingdom.

Once the investigation is completed, the official case is prepared and a hearing date is set to rule on the issue.

Despite the embassy's claims, many Bangladeshi workers have started their application process to work in the Kingdom after the official websites opened Friday. The process will continue until March 28.

Bangladeshi domestic workers are currently being trained and informed of their obligations, which include the need to complete the full two-year work period as stipulated in the contract they signed before arriving to the Kingdom, an official from the Saudi Labor Ministry said.

According to labor contracts, workers do not have the right to escape from their sponsors and would have to face punishment if they do so, he added.

Workers are not entitled to return to their countries or receive a salary before the first two months have passed, the spokesman stressed. If a worker has escaped and contracts the embassy, the embassy will work to resolve the matter within Saudi law.

Source: arabnews.com

BDST: 1805 HRS, MAR 7, 2015