Bonny Mascarenhas

Embassy officials and social workers have lauded a decision by LMRA to provide mistreated workers with tickets home and said that employers will refrain from mistreating employees if they know they have to deal with LMRA as a consequence.

Bahrain Tribune reported yesterday that the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) is to implement a new system whereby it will cover the cost of air tickets for mistreated employees who wish to return home.
The authority will then go through the legal channels to ensure that it is reimbursed by the workers’ employers. “This is an encouraging move in the right direction.

For a long time one of the biggest sticking points has been providing air tickets to workers who were abandoned by their employers,” Marietta Dias, a former Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS) member told the Bahrain Tribune. She explained that such a system will relieve charities and societies from the burden of having to raise funds or find donations to pay for the flights in such cases. Mehru Vesuvala, a MWPS member, also echoed Dias’ statements.

“It will also relieve the workers from the mental stress they go through trying to arrange for an air ticket at their own personal cost.”

“In addition an abused person will likely be more willing to come forward and file a report against the employer,” she added. At present, many expatriates are forced to make a deal with abusive sponsors agreeing not to file a case against them with the police if they provide them with a ticket back home.

Muhammad Ibrahim, first secretary at the Bangladeshi Embassy, also lauded the new policy describing it as “a humanitarian move and an example of the good intentions of the labour authorities in the Kingdom.” He explained that such decisions show that the Kingdom’s authorities are “expat friendly”, and added that he will send the Bahrain Tribune report detailing the new policy to the Bangladeshi government.

He explained that the government will then forward it to other missions in the region in an effort to urge other host countries to follow Bahrain’s lead.

Nirmal Kumar Chawdhary, second secretary at the Indian Embassy, described the policy as “great news”, adding: “It will prevent employees from being trapped here on account of not being provided with a ticket by their employer.The workers now at least have hope that the LMRA will provide for their fare home if their sponsor has wronged them.”