Female staffers locked up 'to protect them from molestation'

Three hotel staffers are accused of preventing women staffers from exercising their freedom during their free time, which they claimed was done to protect them from molestation.

A number of Filipina cleaners who worked for a group that runs a number of hotels complained that they had been deprived of their freedom in the company’s accommodation since they joined work more than two years ago.

MN, 30, told investigators that she had been working for the hotel for about two years on a monthly salary of Dh600 and lived in the company-provided accommodation in a villa at Al Muteena area.

“We do not have any free time. The hotel provides transport from and to the hotel. We start at 8am and finish at 8pm. The guard of the villa locks the door as well as the outer gate. We are taken out for shopping once a month by bus and accompanied by a supervisor and a guard. A couple of days after joining work, I asked my colleagues about that, they told me that this is the hotel management’s rules. I accepted that because I needed the work,” she told investigators.

However, she testified that they were not ill-treated or exploited but were also not allowed to enjoy public holidays. Other colleagues who work with her in the same hotels and staff who work in other hotels repeated the same testimony.

Two cleaners noted that they were appointed for Dh1,500 monthly salary and are paid only Dh700. When asked about the reason one of them told that deduction was for visa and ID card fees. The records did not include testimonies of the hotel management.

However, the prosecution accused each of SS, 41, electrician, KS, 61, service supervisor, KA, 54, cook, with illegally and unrightfully depriving workers from their freedom. The accused defended what they did by saying it was to protect the women workers from molestation as the majority of residents in the area were bachelors.

The Court will reconvene on November 24.
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.