The Foreign Employment Bureau of Sri Lanka will be introducing a new insurance policy for the protection of women leaving to the Middle East region for domestic work, a senior official of the ministry said.
Accordingly, the employer who hires the relevant female migrant worker must have obtained this insurance, and the insurance certificate must be submitted to the Foreign Employment Bureau to register the female migrant worker for foreign employment.
Women domestic workers leaving for Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can choose a suitable insurance policy from among the approved insurance schemes.
The employer must pay an amount of 110 to 140 US dollars for this new insurance for women going to work for a period of 2 years of service in those countries. The amount of insurance premium to be paid will increase in proportional to the duration of the employment contract.
If the employee dies or becomes permanently disabled due to accidents during the employment contract period, an amount of USD 15,000 will be paid as insurance compensation. In case of partial disability due to accidents, an amount of USD 10,000 is entitled as insurance compensation.
In addition to this, insurance compensation is also available for receiving medical treatment, surgery, and epidemic diseases such as Covid, and if a woman is sheltered in a safe house, she will be compensated with US $10 per day for the necessary expenses incurred during that period.
Meanwhile Sri Lanka’s cabinet of ministers has approved the reduction of the minimum age for females to depart to the Middle East as housemaids to 21 years from the current 23, Minister Bandula Gunewardena said.
“The cabinet approved the proposal by Foreign Employment Minister Manuusha Nanayakkara to encourage foreign remittances in the current currency crisis,” Minister Gunewarndene disclosed.
At the moment the age limit for Middle East employment for housemaids and other work was 23 year and for other countries 21 years.
A cabinet sub-committee was appointed on June 06 2022 to go into the matter under the Justice Minister.
