Legal consultation by Abdelaal A Khalil Thursday, 10 March 2011 01:55

Question: A person works in a contracting company as an engineer, but the designation in his work visa and ID card has been given as worker. He wants to get the profession changed in the ID card and work visa from worker to engineer. What are the procedures in order to change the profession as he feels too embarrassed to show his identity card to others.

 

 

Answer:

 

Question: I was arrested and my car was confiscated by traffic police because I exceeded the speed limit although I had compelling reasons. I want to know what punishment is there in the law for those who exceed speed limits. Is it legal for traffic police to seize cars like this?

 

Answer:

Drivers of police vehicles, ambulances, and fire fighting engines are exempted from this law during their work hours. But these drivers have to use warning tools and alarm systems that invite the attention of motorists to the need to slow down speed at crossroads.

Traffic Department officials also have the right to confiscate vehicles in case of reckless driving that poses dangers to the safety of drivers, passengers, pedestrians, or other motorists. The confiscation can be up to nine days depending on the reports traffic officers write at the time of the accident.

The person who asks this question has to head straight to the prosecutor and mention his/her compelling reasons for exceeding the speed limit.

 

Question: I have been working in a company for a year and eight months now. In 2011, I went on annual leave. After returning to work, there came urgent reasons for me to go back to my country. Do I deserve an end of year benefit if I resign next month, bearing in mind that my contract is limitless? How can I calculate this and what rights do I have in this case? Can I file a complaint if the company refuses to give me this benefit?

 

Answer:

Rewards cannot be less than the equivalent of a three-week payment. Workers deserve payment for parts of years of service. Last basic salaries are the basis on which end of service rewards are calculated.

Having given workers their end of service rewards, employers have to terminate the contracts of their workers within two weeks.

The person who asks this question has to aprroach the Labour Department to file a complaint if his/her employer refuses to give him/her their rights.

 

Question: What are the rules producers, distributors, and sellers of goods and services must abide by?

 

Answer:

They are committed to writing the price of the commodity in a visible part on the cover. Buyers have the right to get a dated invoice, identifying the type of the commodity they buy, its price, and its weight or number.

The Consumer Protection Act No. 8/2008 says individuals, groups, and companies providing goods or services have to specify the type of the commodity, its components, and full data on its cover. Labour Law No. 14/2004, which regulates the end of service for workers, says that employers have to pay end-of-service benefits to their workers if they work for up to a year or die at the work place. Rewards are subject to agreement between employers and employees. Article No. 95 of Traffic Law No. 19/2007, says whoever exceeds speed limits has to be put in jail for up to a year and fined up to 10,000 Qatari riyals or face any of these two punishments. The Department of Labour regulates the procedures to amend the profession in accordance to the form filled by those who wish to modify or change his profession. In these procedures the concerned person will submit a letter to the management of the administrative affairs of the company in which he works requesting the amendment of the name mentioned in the identity card with the real name with which he was appointed and what correspondents to the functional task which he performs in the company. On the basis of this letter the management will prepare a new work contract for the employee with the new profession and two copies of the certificate will be issued for the person who is concerned with the correct name. The company will fill up the form designed to amend the profession and get the required signatures on the contract and the attached letters as well as the form by the director of the company who is authorised to sign and the papers will be enclosed with the photocopies of the academic degrees obtained by the employee and a personal photo. The contract will be certified by the Department of Labour and the form as well as the attached papers will be submitted in the Department of Labour by the employee who is concerned with the matter personally or through the company’s representative. The matter will be reviewed with the Department of Labour in order to take appropriate action after verifying the legitimacy of the request and then the procedures will be completed in the department of expatriates’ affairs until the amendment of the professional name is done in the identity card and work visa with the passport after paying the prescribed fees.