An advisory was recently posted in the Ministry of Labor's (MOL) social network account saying that a newly recruited foreign worker can look for another sponsor without permission.  This is possible if the company fails to issue a work permit if being in the Red or Yellow zone category.

Under this zones, companies are not authorized to recruit foreign workers or to renew the permits of their current expatriate employees.

John Monterona, regional coordinator of the Filipino migrant rights group Migrante-Middle East said 'the MOL advisory provides guidance to expatriate workers seeking to transfer from their sponsor or employer' and that 'the Ministry encourages workers to report any violations' especially if the OFWs are 'asked to work under the direct sun in open areas from 12 noon to 3 pm from June 15 to September 15'.

The Ministry of Labor had issued an advisory before, informing everyone that working under the direct sunlight within the stated period will make workers vulnerable to occupational hazards and raise the odds to suffer from heat stroke and other related injuries like blisters, dehydration, skin cancer and many more.

Failure of companies to issue work and residence permits up to three months after the arrival of an expat worker, and the expiry of work permits and iqamas can also be grounds for expat workers to request change in sponsorship.

Expat workers, including overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) embraced this new advisory after some of them stopped working as part of their protest because their companies had failed to give them renewed documentation to be able to continue working.  There are some OFWs who had asked for help from  Arab News to resolve a conflict with their construction company who failed to issue their iqamas.