MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is holding talks with the employers of 89 Filipino caregivers who stopped working after accusing their employer of contract violations, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

The 89 Filipinos, who were deployed in several juvenile rehabilitation centers in Saudi Arabia, stopped working beginning Oct. 12 to protest their employer’s alleged labor malpractices, which include unauthorized salary reduction, illegal salary deduction and delayed payment of salaries.

However, Migrante-Middle East, an overseas Filipino workers group helping the caregivers, called on Philippine diplomatic and labor officials to boost their assistance, saying the employer, Annasban Group of Companies, was making it hard for the Overseas Filipino workers to return home.

According to the DFA, the POLO-Riyadh has asked for the early repatriation of those who wish to return to Manila under their employer’s expense.

Those who would opt to stay, however, may continue their work under improved working conditions, the DFA said.

Migrante-ME countered, however, that the employer is refusing to allow any one of the 89 to go back home.

Annasban is asking for each OFW 4,000 to 8,000 Saudi riyals as part of the deployment cost incurred by the company, according to Migrante-ME regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona.

Monterona, who is based in Riyadh, said two of the OFWs he spoke with recounted that their agencies in Manila were willing to provide for their airfare back home but the employer was adamant about recovering the cost of deployment.

The two, he said, said they and their colleagues have yet to collect two- to three-months worth of salaries; while those who got their pay complained of illegal deductions.

“It is our demand the DFA, the embassy and the POLO to let the 89 distress OFWs be repatriated as soon as possible without any such payment as required by their employer, so that they could be home during Christmas and start a brand new life with their loved ones,” Monterona said in a statement e-mailed to the Inquirer.