The secretary of Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Marianito D. Roque, partially lifted the deployment ban of household service workers (HSWs) to Jordan with the signing of Department Order No. 93-08, Series of 2008. The HSWs that are covered in this order are those who are rehires meaning will return to Jordan to work for the same employer.

The government agency previously issued a deployment ban of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Jordan last January 21 due to the alarming increase of abused HSWs in the Filipino Workers Resource Center in Jordan.

The new Department Order grant the partial exemption, "provided that the salary of the returning HSWs shall in no way be lower than the prescribed monthly pay for Filipino household service workers of USD400."

With the partial lifting of the suspension, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Jordan (POLO-Jordan) can now process the employment documents of the qualified returning HSWs.

The DOLE secretary also instructed the POEA and POLO-Jordan to distribute information regarding employment in Jordan and to keep an eye on the terms and conditions of employment of the HSWs returning to the same employers in Jordan.

The USD 400 required monthly salary for HSWs is set by the DOLE to make sure that only legal and capable employers can hire Filipino HSWs. This is one way to prevent cases of mistreatment and exploitation against them.