It's been such a busy year! Here's one of my recent articles about some of the less well-known spots to visit in the Maldives, hope you enjoy it! This includes a magnificent shipwreck, an enchanted lake, a WWII military base, a mini Garden of Eden and a breath-taking island of black and white pebbles. (That's right, not every beach in the Maldives is made up of pure white coral sand - OK, 99% of them are, but that's what makes this one so special!)
Today I'm writing about one of the least sexy things about being an expat - employment rights. Wait, bear with me! You'll never realise just how critical this is until the day something goes wrong...
When you move overseas to start a new job your mind is
always buzzing with a multitude of questions – Will it be as good as I expected? Is it really what
it looks like in the photos? Will I like my colleagues? Will my colleagues like
me? Will they have slides and a Starbucks just like at the Google Headquarters? (Maybe that's just me). But it seems that very often a pretty important question gets forgotten amidst the giddy whirlwind of relocating to a new country for work: Do I
know my employment rights in this country? For sure, this question won't seem too pressing as you gleefully bounce
off to your new office, full of optimism. And it’s certainly a far less sexy conundrum than ‘do I have enough
bikinis with me?’ and 'I wonder if flip-flops are acceptable for business meetings' (The answer to the latter: Yes, in the Maldives, but definitely a big no-no in Sri Lanka!)
Probably wouldn't wear these in the boardroom
Now I’m not going to pretend for an instant that I know
everything about being an expat or indeed employment law; all I can do is speak from my experience of having lived away from Britain for the past six years and what I have witnessed during this time, which has made me realise just how important the issue actually is. I’m not saying every foreign employer is out to screw you
over. Far from it. But as a newcomer to a
country you're in a vulnerable position when you don’t have any ties and you don’t yet know how things work,
so there could be some unscrupulous employers who could take advantage
of that. (At this point I’ll also like to emphasize that we definitely get dodgy bosses in
the UK too, although I was lucky enough to work with some wonderful ones!).
So what can you do to protect yourself from getting exploited or illegally sacked? Well, ‘scientia potentia est’ - knowledge is power!Equip yourself with some basic knowledge about your employment rights, so if something in the office starts to seem a bit fishy (and I don't mean the fridge) or your
boss tries to make you do something that just doesn’t feel quite right, follow
your ‘spidey-senses’. And subtly let them know that you are aware that it isn't right; see if they take the hint. If the country you work in has an Employment Act, then it was put there for a reason: to protect all workers, local
and foreign alike.
I'll use the Maldives as an example, being as it’s where I've spent the majority of my expat life (so far). I managed to get hold of an
English translation of the Employment Act of the Maldives which I posted on my website in its entirety after reading some
comments in expat forums which indicated a lot of confusion from expats about their rights.
(Be warned, it’s quite a lengthy document!).
Before I continue, I have to say the Maldives is a brilliant place to
do business. There are so many creative and imaginative people to work with, and
a great spirit of entrepreneurship - almost everyone living there has an idea
for a start-up. However, just like absolutely any country in the world,
sometimes people get mistreated by their employers. (I’m not going
to go into the issue right now of the exploitation of Bangladeshi labourers as it's frequently covered in the superb Maldives Independent).
Here’s an example of something I witnessed. I had a friend (a marketing manager) whose company retained her
passport for the whole duration of the time she was working for them; almost a year. Now
in case any alarm bells aren’t going off in your head, it is totally illegal
in any country in the world for your employer to retain your passport for any period longer than is necessary for doing something administrative, such as processing your visa. In a nutshell, they tried to force her to sign a
contract which would cut her salary in half (again – totally illegal). Being a
gutsy girl, she decided to stand up for herself instead of running away, and went to her consulate for
advice. Naturally, the officials were really sympathetic and got involved in helping her.
The case concluded (out of court) with her passport - and the passports of all
Filipino workers in the Maldives - being returned to them. A massive success! But having had such an upsetting experience in the Maldives, she decided to head off to a brighter future elsewhere in the
world.
I've also known of expats being illegally sacked then bundled
onto planes the next day to be deported before they have time to think, let alone protest. And on one occasion a Welsh friend was tricked into thinking he had to leave the country because his dodgy ex-boss had paid someone to
attend a fake 'reconciliation meeting' so they could frogmarch him to the airport and send him home. The same guy came back a few months later to start a job with a new employer, where he worked happily for the next couple of years. He said he had appreciated the impromptu free ticket home and his mum's home cooking, but he always had a funny way of looking at things.
They should have rolled out the red carpet for him, really
Now it's worth pointing out the Maldives Employment Act was introduced in about 2009, so I'd be surprised if any employer tries to claim ignorance of it in 2016 - which of course is no defence in law anyway.
If you
find yourself in a pickle, then get your embassy or consulate involved as soon as you can; it offers a level of protection. And if you are involved with legal proceedings against your employer then you
have a right to stay in the country you were working in, whether your visa has been cancelled or not. You usually need to write to the
Immigration Controller to explain that you are involved in a legal case which
means you have the right to stay in the country. As such, your visa is informally ‘frozen’,
so even if your employer cancels it you have a right to remain while the case goes on (at least, that's how it works in the Maldives).
In the
Maldives, the Employment Tribunal is free and is highly-regarded for not being corrupt (always a
bonus!) as well as for taking the cases seriously. The downside: Everything is
conducted in the local language; from the paperwork you need to fill in to file
the case, right through to the actual hearing in the courtroom. Plus if you bring any witnesses they will need to swear on the Quran. Testimonies from non-Muslims are not considered 'official testimonies', but they will 'unofficially take them into consideration'. If you don’t know
how to speak and write in Dhivehi, you need either a lawyer (or a good friend,
depending on how serious the case is) to help translate and guide you through everything.
However, you do need
to weigh up whether it’s all worth the fight or not. I admire anyone who stands up
for their principles, but you do need to ask yourself if you are prepared to
commit the time and effort into pursuing the case. If you do stay and fight for
your rights when you believe you have been wronged under the law of the
country you are working in, then good for you - by standing up for your rights
you’re helping to protect future employees from getting treated the same way. Employers will certainly think twice before doing the same thing again after being dragged through the Tribunal.
Beastie Boys/Hiphopgoldenage: They knew how to fight for their right (s)...
So, in summary, here are my top tips, which can be applied to working
as an expat in any country:
Always find out your rights by reading the Employment Act of the country you're working in as soon as you can Remember your employer can never keep hold of your passport,
wherever you are from – this is totally illegal
If you have problems, ask your embassy or consulate for
support and advice
Find out if there is an Employment Tribunal, and if you can,
how transparent it is
Share your problems with your friends – this stuff can be
very stressful!
…And finally some highlights of the Maldives Employment Act (edited a bit to fit in this post!):
An employee shall not be dismissed from
employment without showing appropriate cause
The employment agreement can specify a term of
no more than three months' probation
Employees shall not be required to work overtime except
unless this has been agreed in the employment agreement. Any work carried out over time shall be subject to time and a half or time and a quarter
An employee required to work normal hours on a public holiday shall be paid at least an amount equivalent to half of the minimum wages earned on a normal day of work in addition to overtime
Where the employee does not conform to work ethics, the
employer has the power to impose appropriate and reasonable disciplinary measures: verbal warning, written warning, suspension for less than 14 days, or possible demotion. The employer has to prove you breached work ethics or neglected your duties, and show he gave a verbal warning then a written warning before dismissal.
Complaints may be lodged at the Tribunal by any employee
concerning the fairness of the disciplinary measures imposed against him/her.
It’s been almost a year since I left my home and friends in the
Maldives. Now there’s a sentence I could never have imagined writing 10 years
ago, as I fought for my life at the National Hospital for Neurology &
Neurosurgery in London. Perhaps it was my experience of being paralysed from
head to toe by Guillain-Barre Syndrome and learning to walk again that inspired
me to get out there and try to wring every last drop of excitement and
adventure out of life.
When you’re flooded with an overwhelming appreciation
for simply wriggling your toes for the first time in months, or taking a tentative
breath without a ventilator, the concept of ‘living in the moment’ isn’t too
hard to get your head around. (Eckhart Tolle has this covered better than I do!)
But I don’t like to linger on it too much, in fact I rarely even tell anyone
about it. Mostly because I don’t want to think of myself as a victim. It
changed me internally forever and I have taken some very positive lessons from
it, the biggest one being to suck the marrow out of life.
I’m trying to seek out an extraordinary path and
not fall into the trap of mediocrity or complacency. I hate how pompous that
sounds when I read it back to myself (well, I suppose that’s always the danger with personal blogs…)
but I know there’s so much more I want to achieve. And I know it requires continuing
to push myself out of my comfort zone. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen so many
amazing places (and because I know there are so many more out there still to
see!) but I don’t feel completely settled anywhere yet.
At 16, the French Riviera - the bright, sunny home of the impressionist artists I admired
so much - seemed like the ultimate destination for me, and I finally realised this dream last year. But since then I have explored
more of the world, from Europe, to Asia, Australia and North America...And I’ve found that wanderlust is one condition you can never
entirely rid yourself of! What’s more, now l’m looking at this region through adult
eyes, I can safely say Somerset Maugham completely nailed it in one sentence:
‘The French Riviera – a sunny place, for shady people’.
But back to the Maldives, and my somewhat neglected little
blog. I was so busy writing articles, scuba diving, organising social events (OK,
and being paid to write other people’s blogs) that I barely had time to touch
my own personal blog. However, the past year in France has offered me the
opportunity to reflect on my time in the Maldives. Right now, I’m based in Nice
and it’s the breathing space I needed. A much-desired dose of the First World
after living on an isolated island in the middle of the Indian Ocean for almost
six years. Alright, where I was paid to review $4,000 per night resorts.
So of
course all my new friends in France always ask me incredulously ‘And you left
the Maldives – why?’. Well, of course I know how ridiculously fortunate I was
to be able to do all the things I did there. Especially since I left the UK at the peak of
the economic crisis, as friends and family were being made redundant, and being
a freelance journalist in London was even harder than ever, with budgets being cut
and publications going under left, right and centre.
Suddenly I found myself learning to scuba dive, swimming
with whale sharks, booking private islands for parties with my friends, helping cover the 2012 coup d’etat, observing a fledgling democracy descend into
chaos, spreading news about how to navigate 1,200 islands as an independent
traveller in a country with only a basic public transport network…I had some of
the most incredible experiences of my life in the Maldives. I also met some of
the warmest, friendliest, most adventurous and fascinating people in the world
amongst the Maldivians and
expats I befriended there.
It was a massive learning
curve, suddenly finding myself working in a country I had never visited before,
adapting to the local customs and culture, trying to figure out the best way to
dress in the city in order to avoid being stared at (it turns out there’s no
simple answer to that!)…Bali, it is not. And perhaps unsurprisingly, a certain
percentage of the population is actively hostile to decadent little expats
setting up shop there.
There was little in the way of entertainment, save endless hours in coffee shops and watching DVDS, so we made our own fun...
And we REALLY had fun!
I did not ever live at
a resort, I've just been lucky enough to have been able to review about 75 - 80% of them (so far). Everyone at home seems to think all the expats in the Maldives live in straw
huts and sip cocktails on the beach all day. The reality could not be further
from this. These are some
significant downsides to living in the Maldives,
which people going on holiday to the perfectly-manicured resorts with all the
comforts of home would never get to see. The overcrowded and polluted capital
city (where most expats are based) is basically the opposite of what you
picture the Maldives to look like: More than 100,000 people packed onto a 2.2 square kilometre island. Concrete high-rise blocks completely devoid of
architectural inspiration. It makes Tower Hamlets look pleasant. Rats,
cockroaches, mosquitoes. One cinema. One museum. Until recently, just one
(artificial) beach where you can only swim fully clothed, due to cultural
sensitivities in this 100% Muslim nation. (Most tourists aren’t even aware of
the state-enforced religion, as the laws are different on resort islands to the
island communities).
Poor nutrition - due to most decent produce being redirected to
resorts, and lack of space for large-scale agriculture. All the veg needs to be
flown/shipped in from other countries before languishing in some kind of fruit
and vegetable graveyard in the shops. (I got used to cutting about a third off
anything I bought because it was rotten). Poor health: Dengue fever, fungal foot
infections due to humidity, UTIs from dehydration, ‘tropical flu’ (I don’t know
the real name but you lie in bed sweating for about 3 days and feel like you’ve
been hit by a bus).
Desalinated shower water which makes you hair slowly fall
out. Too much tuna in everything you eat in the cafes which I swear makes
everyone eventually go a bit bonkers due to the mercury and plastic particles. Fully-grown
expat guys who don’t seem to realise it’s not Ibiza and they’re not 18. Wrestling
with trying to convey the sights and colours of the islands without despising yourself
for using clichés, but eventually being forced to type the words ‘azure’ and
‘turquoise’ in reference to the water a thousand times more than you would ever
have wanted to…(I’m still haunted by ‘sparkling lagoons’ and
‘powder-soft sand’, although those day-dreaming of the Maldives from somewhere grey lap it up, and let's face it, they do sparkle, and yes it is that soft!). And then the little things you take for granted at home like
being able to cook a spaghetti bolognese in your kitchen whilst drinking a
glass of wine – which is totally illegal in the capital city. The wine I mean,
obviously. And let’s not even speak about bacon smuggling.
Admittedly, some of those things I mentioned are weightier
than others. And I have to reiterate how grateful I am to have experienced
everything I did there, good and bad. I tell anyone who asks me that it wouldn’t be
an exaggeration to say was the best of times and the worst of times. The
euphoria of jumping off the roof of a boat into the sea with your friends; bouncing
on a bed with a bottle of champagne at Four Seasons (in a villa that would have
cost the equivalent of my monthly salary if it weren’t a work freebie); and the
feeling of absolute isolation and blackness whenever things went wrong so far
from the usual support network I have at home. I am not Maldivian but my life
there and the people I met became part of who I am now.
However, ultimately, as a foreigner, I am not allowed to
purchase property in the Maldives (the only exception is certain ‘timeshares’
at designated resorts - and sadly my name isn’t Roman Abramovich!). I cannot ever become
Maldivian unless I convert to Islam (with the law as it stands) and that’s not
about to happen. And to be honest, having lived in London for 10 years and
experiencing all the effervescence of its theatres, live comedy, art galleries,
museums, bars, nightclubs and fashion (oh God I missed shopping!), I could
never see the Maldives as somewhere to stay forever.
The same goes for most of the expats: A significant
proportion arrive in the Maldives and stay for only somewhere between 1 week and 3 months before bailing (having
realised it’s not exactly Koh Pha Ngan, and yes it is a lot tougher than they
had bargained for). The majority tend to stay for an average of a year; sometimes up
to two. Then
there are a tiny percentage who are in it for the long-haul, but
they are mostly the ones who marry Maldivians. The numbers tend to fluctuate from year to year - sometimes a heap of expats arrive, other years just a slow trickle. So after one of the most recent mass exoduses, I found just myself
and a handful of friends remaining in the Maldives, such as the brilliant journalist JJ Robinson (who has
recently been speaking at the Hay Festival about his book on political turmoil in the Maldives; less well-known for stealing my Milo chocolate powder and eating
it raw with a spoon when we were flatmates).
But eventually even JJ departed to
become editor of Himal Southasian journal in Kathmandu (after 5 years); my Thai
best friend headed off for a new life with her fiancée in Australia (after 7 or 8
years off and on), my Californian best friend found a yoga instructor course in Costa
Rica beckoning (after 4 years)…And by 2015 there were very few ‘long-service
medal expats’ left in the Maldives. My remaining close friends were some Maldivians
(who ended up relocating to some far-flung resort islands to be butlers and
guest relations officers), and a rag-tag assortment of foreign seaplane and
wheel plane pilots who were for the most part A) Extremely kind and welcoming and B)
Largely batshit crazy. I’ll never forget persuading them to dance on the wings of
the seaplane for my YouTube tribute to Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’ song.
I rarely write about about personal things, not even on Facebook, but this post
will be one of the very few occasions. Partly to explain my shameful lack of
activity on my blog, and also to explain my backstory. One thing I know for
sure, the Maldives is still part of my life. I’m genuinely honoured to be flown
back to the Maldives to be ‘writer in residence’ for the Kurumba blog, to write
magazine articles on diving, and hopefully to soon work on a travel documentary,
amongst the other things I have on the go.
So I will be there again from time
to time to update people on what’s going on, and continue to write about the
things I know and love. My Maldivian friends very rarely ever say
goodbye to each other, because everyone knows they will eventually run into each-other again on the island.
And as the world seems to get smaller every year, I think that’s really apt.
