Here’s another sad case of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) who was allegedly abused by her boss.
A Pinay domestic worker in Dammam, Saudi Arabia has accused her employer of pouring boiling water over her back late last month, an incident that recently came to light after a netizen shared the story on Thursday to ask for financial assistance.
ABS-CBN News identified the woman as Jeilyn Tumalip Gavanes of Abra. The trouble allegedly started after her husband called Gavanes’ recruitment agency at Al Khobar to inform them that Gavanes’ employer has not paid his wife’s salary. This angered Gavanes’ boss, who allegedly poured hot water over her in retaliation.
Gavanes was doing her housework when she saw her employer with the boiling water. “I was wiping the dishes in the kitchen. I thought my employer was just going to have coffee,” she said in Filipino. “Then my employer just suddenly poured the water on my back.”
Gavanes also said that her employer didn’t bring her to the hospital immediately after the accident. She took pain relievers for two days before she was brought to the doctor on Aug. 2 because she started having a fever.
The 24-year-old alleges that she was threatened by her employer if she would tell anyone what happened. “When I was brought to the hospital, my employer told me that if I report that they were the ones who did this to me, they’ll jail me for 10 years here [in Saudi],” she said in Filipino.
She added: “But if I say I did it all to myself, they’d let me go home to the Philippines.”
Gavanes, who had only been working for her employer for two months, said she was hit on the head twice when she tried to reason with her employer.
Meanwhile, Facebook user Corazon Vinluan shared a photo of Gavanes on Facebook on Thursday to ask for financial aid for the OFW.
Her case has been reported to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office-Eastern Region Office (POLO-ERO) with the help of the Filipino community in Dammam, ABS-CBN reported.
