Back door transfer of sponsorship Thursday, 05 August 2010 01:50

Sponsorship or workers’ rights

Everyday newspapers publish news, interviews and columns about workers. The Ministry of Labour in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior is used to publishing the full text of the Labour Code as well as the provisions of the Sponsorship Code, which regulate the relationship between the parties.

The departments of public relations in both departments cooperate with the authorities concerned by holding seminars, conferences and meetings, which are all covered by mass media. Both departments also publish and distribute forms and brochures to help strengthen the relation between workers and their employers.

They also deal with disputes between the two parties, address issues and limit violations of rights by the application of the law.

We have a clear example of this in the phenomenon of workers who lodge malicious complaints against employers based on Article No. 12 of Law No. 4/2009 on regulating the entry and exit of expatriates.

This law gives the Interior Minister or anyone representing him the right to temporarily transfer the sponsorship of a worker in case there are lawsuits between the worker and his/her employer.

The Interior Minister can approve the sponsorship transfer in case a sponsor abuses his/her rights or if the public interest so requires.

The Interior Minister for the same reasons can approve the transfer of sponsorship, at his request and after the approval of the Ministry of Labour, to another sponsor even if the work contract was not subject to the provisions of the labour code. Employment contracts are important documents. They occupy a special place everywhere in the world and especially in the Gulf. That was why legislators issued Labour Law No. 14/2004 to regulate the relationship between workers and employers. This relationship has to be based on the work contract and the rules of the Ministry of Labour, which promote the interests of the two parties.

The Ministry of Labour also issues employment contract forms, which include the basic rights and obligations of both workers and their employers. It also registers these contracts and maintains them. When necessary, the ministry gives each party a copy of the contract.

The State has created special courts to hear disputes that arise between workers and employers in the pursuit of speedy settlement of Labour problems.

The Labour Code says that all claims brought by workers or their heirs for rights included in this law or in the employment contract have to be heard expeditiously and exempted from court fees.

The Gulf region depends on the sponsorship system to regulate the entry, exit and residence of foreigners. The Sponsorship Law No. 4/2009 requires the presence of a sponsor for those who wish to enter the country. That’s why the Labour Law No. 14/2004 is closely linked to the Sponsorship Law No. 4/2009. Both laws control the entry and residence of expatriates who come to Qatar for work.

According to the Labour Law, it is not permissible to employ non-Qatari workers before getting approval from the Department of Labour. Those workers have to get a licence to work in the state. The validity of the work permit is determined according to the period of the residence permit after approval from the Labour Ministry. This period should not exceed five years unless the approval of the Ministry is attained.

Therefore, workers and employers have to abide by these two laws.

The employer is a person or a company or any other entity legally employing one or more workers for a salary for a certain period, in which the worker is committed to work under the employer’s direction or supervision.

Work is a human right. The freedom to work is guaranteed by the work contract, which is an agreement between employers and workers, for a definite or indefinite period whereby the worker undertakes to perform a certain job for the employer in exchange for payment.

The law points out that the work contract cannot be established until the sponsorship of the worker is established. According to the sponsorship contract, an expatriate cannot enter the country or leave it unless he/she has a passport or valid travel document and permission to enter the country from the authority concerned stating the purpose of entry.

Under this Sponsorship Law, no worker can be employed by an employer unless he is under his sponsorship. The Labour Law No. 14/2009 is the law governing the relation between workers and employers.

One of the main terms of the work contract according to the law is that if the contract has a fixed term, it should not exceed five years. It can be renewed for another period(s) by an agreement between the two parties. If the contract is not renewed and the two parties continue to put it into effect after its expiry without an express agreement, the contract is automatically renewed for an indefinite period with the conditions of the old one. The renewal period is considered an extension of the previous period of service.

It is worth mentioning here that the end of the contract means the end of the relation between the employer the worker.

As the contract of employment is the main reason why the sponsorship relationship between the worker and the employer exists, the end of service puts an end to sponsorship and the worker has to leave the country.

According to Labour Law No. 14/2004, at the end of service, employers have to, at their own expense, return workers where they recruit them from or to any other place of agreement. The procedures to end the service of non-Qatari workers should never exceed two weeks. If the worker joins another employer before leaving the country, the obligation to return him to his home country is transferred to the new employer.

If the work contract ends and the two parties agree by mutual consent on the transfer of sponsorship, the new sponsor becomes responsible for the worker according to sponsorship Law No. 4/2009.