AnonDubai

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EW MASTER

Latest post on 05 February 2013 - 20:29

Personally, I would not draw up a handbook or contract with 'them'. I would give them a list of chores to do and approximate hours, but nothing hard and fast. Rules are strange to a lot of maids, and they appear to like to be controlled. For many of them, as women, they have been 'controlled' all of their lives, especially those from the Sub-Con. They sometimes work better with more constraints. Kindness is a great thing, but firmness must come with it, and you may find that many times that they are being co-erced by family members. I would also make it clear that they should not commit or ask about illegal acts. An employment handbook is a list of rules and regulations of employment. It is guidelines of your rights and what an employer expects from you. Put it in writing then when she needs to take a week off a the drop of a hat for her third cousin twice removed's funeral you can say "No, bereavement leave is only for immediate family and in order to take a weeks leave you must give two weeks notice". It is not just for the employee's benefit but also for the employer to be able to reference to it every time they are asked something unreasonable and hopefully get asked less unreasonable things in the future. 90% of expats are not aware of all the laws and regulations here. One of the things DH has had to do for his professional post graduate educated staff is give them a list of the more obscure rules in the UAE. So how can you expect a maid to be aware of these? Then she's not permitted to ask about them if something is legal or not?! I work extra hours all the time and I am not paid for them. I am systematically called in when they need me or called to Saudi at the last minute. Argh.... DCC, Maid contracts do not fall under the labour law you know. It is an entirely different thing. Ahh sorry I thought what you did was employment and what the maid did was employment. Must be mistaken. Both are employment indeed but not the same category of employment as per the UAE Law. Until this changes, I am not doing anything "outside the law" if I don't fix an OT rate for my maid or give her the notice she is due. Voila! Its funny how quickly people who come here forget their roots. Yes, you are correct! I mean, so many Western expats come here and hire maids yet that is so foreign in their cultures! I mean, like, you'd never get a live-in maid in the Ukay! While I was growing up in London we had a live in nanny. She even came on holiday with us. We had her until I started proper primary school (age six/seven I think). Then I had a babysitter after school and later I went to boarding school. My father had a live in nanny, a maid/cook and a gardener when he grew up (three live in staff). His sisters were very sickly as babies and required round the clock care and he lived in a large mansion in Yorkshire with a clock-tower and servants quarters attached, I believe the nanny lived in the house but the maid/cook and gardener (a married couple) lived in the quarters below the clocktower which were self contained. He too went to boarding school later, although his sisters did not. My mother had a live in maid/cook and a house boy when she was growing up. Myself and my father both grew up in the UK. All staff had a full and proper employment contracts the same as any other employee at that time. My mother's family's staff did not have such employment contracts they were not deemed necessary. But then she grew up in apartheid South Africa where I think the belief was those 'inferior' people could not cope with rules and regulations and it is best to just tell them what you want done when you want it done. After much condemnation by the rest of the world the apartheid in South Africa was abolished and it was realised that those inferior people were in fact equal to others and able to cope with employment with contracts, structure and such like. Any person I employ will have the same terms and conditions of their employment than that of any other person regardless of race, nationality or education. Good for you! Humanity needs people like you!

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AnonDubai

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