Legal consultations Thursday, 30 December 2010 02:55

Question: A foreigner living in Qatar is willing to buy a transport vehicle but wants to know whether the traffic law of Qatar permits the registration for outsiders or not. And if yes, what are the conditions of registration required by the law?

Answer: The Traffic Law No. 19/2007 points out that it is not permissible for non-Qataris to register a taxi or car rental or touring car (limousine) or a public transport car for passengers (public bus) or a public transport car (truck) or a vehicle for personal use. It did not include a car for private transport so that the resident may buy a car for personal transport and get the same registered in his name as it is stated in the traffic law that the car carrying a licence of personal transport (truck) is a vehicle for the transport of goods, animals and other things and its use is limited to personal purpose.

For the licence of such vehicle it is required that the same must be registered in the register of vehicle mechanical at the management of traffic and assigned a number to it and update the vehicle mechanical with the conditions of security, durability and the vehicle mechanical pass the technical examination and provide an insurance policy on the vehicle mechanical applicable against the dangers that someone else might get exposed to it in the State in addition to the payment of fees of technical inspection of licence. The law points out that the period of the licence of the vehicle mechanical will be one year for the natural persons from the date of its issuance.

Question: A employee was working as an editor in a media but after the end of her services the remuneration remained suspended until the transfer of her sponsorship. After one year the institution has re-appointed her but on probation for three months with a monthly wage. Now she wants to know if she deserves to get the benefits for the first work or those receivables will be added to the benefits of the current service noting that she is still on the sponsorship of that institution. Is it permissible to be subjected for other probation period again with the same sponsor?

Answer: The Labour law No. 14/2004 regarding the regulation to terminate the service of the employee states that if there was an employment contract of indefinite duration, then it is permissible for each party to terminate the same without giving any reasons in this case. The party who wishes to terminate the contract shall notify the other party in writing prior to termination of the contract duration not less than one month if the service period was for five years or less if the period of service is more than five-year, then the notification period shall be at least two months for workers who are paid annually or monthly. If the contract was terminated without taking into account these periods the party which terminated the contract will be committed to pay the other party a compensation equal to the employee’s wages for the period of notice or the remaining part of it.

In addition to any amounts payable to the worker at the end of service, the employer must pay the end of service gratuity to the worker who completed one year or more in the service. This remuneration will be fixed with the agreement between the parties provided that it is not less than the wage of three weeks for each year of service. The worker is entitled to remuneration for fractions of a year by the period of his service.

The worker’s service is connected if terminated in cases other than those provided in Article (61) of this law and will be returned to service within two months from the date of termination and the last basic wage of the employee will be base for calculating the remuneration referred to. The employer has the right to deduct from the remuneration amounts that was to the employee as a debt.

Therefore, it is not permissible to suspend the payment of end of service gratuity to the worker until the transfer of sponsorship. The employer must pay the end of service benefits to the employee during a maximum period of one week from the date of termination of service in accordance with the labor law as the article 67 states: “If the work contract ended employment for any reason, the employer shall pay the worker’s wage and all due amounts by the end of the working day following the day on which the contract ends, unless the worker has left work without notification referred to, then the employer in this case will pay the worker’s wage and all other dues within a period not exceeding seven days from the date of leaving the work. “

The placement of the employee under the probation period again is contrary to the law and it is not permissible to place the employee under the probation period twice with the employer.

Whereas the labour law states that “It may be provided in the contract that the employee will be put under the probation for the period agreed upon by the parties and that period should not exceed six months from the date of work.

The employee can’t be put under the probation more than once with the same employer.

The employer has right to terminate the contract during the probation period, if it sounded to him that the worker is unfit to perform the work, provided the employee will be notified about the same, at least before three days from the date of termination of the contract.