The worker may also not have time, knowledge or capability to find a lawyer and issue a power of attorney (PoA) before he leaves the country so that the claim could be pursued in his absence. After leaving the country, issuing a PoA is a time consuming and arduous process. Where the claim amount is “small”, lawyers are reluctant to take up the case. 7. Compensation for unjustified termination: In CODs, workers are entitled to claim compensation for unjustified termination at certain rates based upon remaining duration of contract or months of service. Workers are not aware that the compensation should be claimed through the labour court within a certain time from the last day of service and they invariably lose the benefit. 8. Signature on settlement papers: Workers may also be held to ransom by the employer and asked to sign on the settlement paper as a condition to get their passport. 10 Even if the employer has only performed partial payment, the signature is obtained stating that there are no further claims against the employer. Migrant workers were also forced to sign a waiver that they will never file a case or complaint against their employer as an agreement for repatriation.11 There is no way that the worker can claim the dues as there is no obligation on the part of the employer to show proof of payment other than the acknowledgement signed by the worker. This applies to monthly wages also as there have been instances where the signature was taken on payment voucher without actually making the payment. “There are many cases in which migrant workers are forced to sign a letter statement made by the recruitment agent before departure, that if they are failed finishing the contract and ask to go home before the deduction period ends, they will have to pay a fine amounting to tens of millions of rupiah (in Indonesia). In fact, domestic workers often get jobs that are not in accordance with the contract - they work beyond the 8-hour, experience physical or verbal abuse or are forced to work beyond their capacity. For example, one domestic worker as part of our casework works for a house that 2 to 3 floors, handling not only cooking and cleaning duties but also, taking care of children + tutoring the smaller children, washing cars, caring for pets and also tending to the home garden while her salary is only the domestic workers’ standard. Her extra duties are not considered in her payment nor in treatment. However, when she could not tolerate her working conditions and asked to return home, she was considered a failure. Not only was her salary stolen because she was deemed to have not finished her contract, but her family at home was also forced to sell land and other valuables thing to pay an exceptionally large fine to the recruitment agent. We call this not only wage theft but robbery.” 12 10 Oman partner Philippines member 12 Indonesia member 11 7