Doha: The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs said it has hired an international company to facilitate the process of recruitment of expat workers from abroad.
The Ministry hired a Swiss company called VFC, which will have branches in all countries exporting workers to Qatar, said a senior official from the Ministry. The company will monitor recruitment requirements like medical check-up, certificate verification and signing of work contract in cooperation with the Ministry. Copies of the contracts will be exchanged online, said an official who didn't want his name in print.
The objective of this plan is to avoid change of contract terms or giving workers false promises by companies and this procedure will end unfair practices and exploitation of workers in countries of their origin. The company is to start its work next month.
Qatar has 35 bilateral agreements and five Memorandums of Understanding with 40 countries exporting workers to Qatar, the official emphasized. Qatar held every year a meeting of the joint committees established with these countries, said the official.
The Ministry conducted 1,815 inspection visits to manpower agencies resulting in the closure of 15 agencies and issuance of 182 mandatory improvement orders, the Ministry said. Thus, the work of the manpower agencies is under strict monitoring, the official added.
In order to improve the monitoring system and enhance the enforcement of law, the Ministry raised the number of inspectors to 397 and introduced electronic devices like the GSP.
In 2015, labour inspectors conducted 56,724 field inspection visits which led to the ban of 929 companies and issuance of 676 mandatory improvement orders, said the official briefing the media.
The new labour law and the entry, exit and residency laws have jointly granted expatriate workers greater freedom of movement and job transfer and introduced measures to prevent passport confiscation.
Expatriate workers no longer need approval of their employers as long as they complete their duration of the fixed term contract, said the official.
The Ministry has also simplified the procedure for filing complaints against employers by providing with 11 self-service machines in government service complexes and the number will raise to 100 next year and will be available at labour’s comps.
According to the official, the Ministry has also opened an office in courts to help workers in court cases, advise and guide them to establish legal cases and all these are free services provided by the Ministry, said the official.
The Ministry received 6,048 complaints from workers, 70 percent of them were settled and 644 were forwarded to courts.
Highlighting the new reforms introduced by the government, the official said the Ministry transferred 2,185 expatriate workers to other companies without consent of their previous employers. This is in addition to bearing the travel expenses of 10,000 workers who went home.
Under the new law, exit permits need submission of application in a written form to the employer as per the term of the contract. If the employer fails to grant the permission, then he/she has the right to resort to the Grievances committee said the source.
