My father worked in Saudi Arabia at a car calibration shop for 27 years. In 2014, his employer passed away and the shop was sold to another owner. During that year (2014), my father's ikama got expired too. However, the new owner of the shop doesn't want to renew the ikama. He wanted my father to pay him first before he would renew the ikama. My father's ikama wasn't renewed until 2017 so he decided to go home during the amnesty. My father didn't receive any benefits such as the End of Contract service. My questions are, what are the benefits that my father should receive from the company that he worked with for 27 years? Which government agency should he ask help from? My father is now home with us. He is already 64 years old and he went home empty handed. Thank you.
My father worked in Saudi Arabia at a car calibration shop for 27 years. In 2014
Atty. Bimbi
is a Legal expert
in the Philippines
Your father has worked for a Saudi employer. The one thing you failed to mention was whether your father had an employment contract with that Saudi employer, whether his contract of employment was processed through the POEA.
I would think that the first contract of employment 27 years ago was POEA approved but your father kept going back to Saudi, and his subsequent employment contracts were not registered with the POEA anymore. He was directly hired after the first contract expired, was he not?
When an OFW is directly hired, he has no agency in the Philippines. The risk of not having an agency in the Philippines is, when an OFW is dismissed and is repatriated, he will have no legal recourse against an agency here. Kasi nga, wala naman siyang agency dito. The agency stands in the shoes of the foreign employer/principal. So, if the foreign employer breached the contract of employment, the OFW can sue the agency in the Philippines instead of the foreign employer -- do you see that? Your father might not even be a member of the OWWA. He might not have paid OWWA dues if his direct hire employment for 27 years did not have a POEA-approved contract. It is for this reason that the Labor Code prohibits direct hiring of workers for abroad.
Second, your father is 64 years old, you said. That is retirement age. Even in the Philippines, your father will not be able to get a job because he is already a senior citizen. Optional retirement age is 60. Mandatory retirement age is 65.
Third, an employment contract is just like any contract -- it has to be a mutual agreement. When your father's old employment sold the business, the new employer had no obligation to honor the former owner's obligations. He had no obligation to renew the ikama because the contract of employment your father had was with the former owner, not the new owner. There is no obligation for the new owner to keep your father employed.
Fourth, this is the problem that most OFWs do not realize. When they work abroad, they do not enjoy the benefits and protection that workers in the Philippines enjoy. OFWs never become permanent residents or citizens of the Arab countries they work in. They do not have social security benefits, no retirement benefits, no medical or health insurance benefits. All that must be taken care of by the OFW himself by saving money, by investing savings and by being a voluntary member of the SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth here in the Philippines.
This is the cost of working abroad. Filipinos give up the companionship with their families for years and yet, aside from the monthly dollars they earn, they have no social security abroad. They risk being maltreated and mistreated. And when they come home because they can no longer work, they had not saved any money for their retirement or money to put up a business. This is the risk they take.
I am very sorry for you and your father. Please talk to a lawyer. Go to the OWwA office nearest you. They have financial assistance for displaced OFWs. They may be able to help you.
I would think that the first contract of employment 27 years ago was POEA approved but your father kept going back to Saudi, and his subsequent employment contracts were not registered with the POEA anymore. He was directly hired after the first contract expired, was he not?
When an OFW is directly hired, he has no agency in the Philippines. The risk of not having an agency in the Philippines is, when an OFW is dismissed and is repatriated, he will have no legal recourse against an agency here. Kasi nga, wala naman siyang agency dito. The agency stands in the shoes of the foreign employer/principal. So, if the foreign employer breached the contract of employment, the OFW can sue the agency in the Philippines instead of the foreign employer -- do you see that? Your father might not even be a member of the OWWA. He might not have paid OWWA dues if his direct hire employment for 27 years did not have a POEA-approved contract. It is for this reason that the Labor Code prohibits direct hiring of workers for abroad.
Second, your father is 64 years old, you said. That is retirement age. Even in the Philippines, your father will not be able to get a job because he is already a senior citizen. Optional retirement age is 60. Mandatory retirement age is 65.
Third, an employment contract is just like any contract -- it has to be a mutual agreement. When your father's old employment sold the business, the new employer had no obligation to honor the former owner's obligations. He had no obligation to renew the ikama because the contract of employment your father had was with the former owner, not the new owner. There is no obligation for the new owner to keep your father employed.
Fourth, this is the problem that most OFWs do not realize. When they work abroad, they do not enjoy the benefits and protection that workers in the Philippines enjoy. OFWs never become permanent residents or citizens of the Arab countries they work in. They do not have social security benefits, no retirement benefits, no medical or health insurance benefits. All that must be taken care of by the OFW himself by saving money, by investing savings and by being a voluntary member of the SSS, Pag-ibig and Philhealth here in the Philippines.
This is the cost of working abroad. Filipinos give up the companionship with their families for years and yet, aside from the monthly dollars they earn, they have no social security abroad. They risk being maltreated and mistreated. And when they come home because they can no longer work, they had not saved any money for their retirement or money to put up a business. This is the risk they take.
I am very sorry for you and your father. Please talk to a lawyer. Go to the OWwA office nearest you. They have financial assistance for displaced OFWs. They may be able to help you.
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