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Ailyn Agonia
Doha
Domestic workers coming to Qatar will soon have their workhours, tasks, and leave and overtime entitlements clearly defined in their labour contracts, an official at the ILO Project Office in Qatar has said.
A new version of the standard employment contract for domestic workers that complements Law No. 15 of 2017 was recently introduced by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (ADLSA), said Alix Nasri, Technical Specialist, Labour migration and employment at ILO Doha Office.
It looks at equalising the rights between domestic workers and workers covered by the Qatar labour law, Nasri said while addressing a virtual panel discussion organised by the US and Canadian embassies on Monday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day
The new version will reduce miscommunication in employment relationships as it accounts for full transparency of tasks, both for the employers and the domestic workers.
“The new contract introduces at the beginning a provision that details really what are the different tasks. So that’s really key advancement which we think can really bring transparency since the start of employment relationship. Then this new version also brings equality between domestic workers and workers covered by the labour law in different areas. The first one is that it specifies clearly the regular working hours with a maximum of two hours of overtime and how this overtime is compensated on the same level as workers covered by the labour law. It also specifies that domestic workers are entitled to the same sick leave benefit as any other workers in Qatar. That’s really also a key improvement,” said Nasri.
She pointed out that the new version of the contract brings clarity on the fact that both workers and employers can terminate a contract anytime based on reasonable notice. She said, “So this is also included in the new standard contract. So all the recent labour reforms are reflected including the provision on a minimum wage.”
Further on the key advancement in the standard contract, Nasri also said the new version reinforces on the provisions in Qatar labour law on the fact that workers should not be charged for their recruitment by going beyond and mentioning that recruitment cost should be borne by the employers. Reiterating with more details the labour law on the specific stage of the recruitment process and recruitment fees and costs, she added.
“We understand that this new version of the standard contract has been already shared with private recruitment agencies and also Qatar Visa Centers and we will be working in the coming months with the government and our partners at ADLSA to see to what extent we could also create a system of digital authentication like for contracts of other workers,” said Nasri.
Doha
Domestic workers coming to Qatar will soon have their workhours, tasks, and leave and overtime entitlements clearly defined in their labour contracts, an official at the ILO Project Office in Qatar has said.
A new version of the standard employment contract for domestic workers that complements Law No. 15 of 2017 was recently introduced by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (ADLSA), said Alix Nasri, Technical Specialist, Labour migration and employment at ILO Doha Office.
It looks at equalising the rights between domestic workers and workers covered by the Qatar labour law, Nasri said while addressing a virtual panel discussion organised by the US and Canadian embassies on Monday, on the occasion of International Women’s Day
The new version will reduce miscommunication in employment relationships as it accounts for full transparency of tasks, both for the employers and the domestic workers.
“The new contract introduces at the beginning a provision that details really what are the different tasks. So that’s really key advancement which we think can really bring transparency since the start of employment relationship. Then this new version also brings equality between domestic workers and workers covered by the labour law in different areas. The first one is that it specifies clearly the regular working hours with a maximum of two hours of overtime and how this overtime is compensated on the same level as workers covered by the labour law. It also specifies that domestic workers are entitled to the same sick leave benefit as any other workers in Qatar. That’s really also a key improvement,” said Nasri.
She pointed out that the new version of the contract brings clarity on the fact that both workers and employers can terminate a contract anytime based on reasonable notice. She said, “So this is also included in the new standard contract. So all the recent labour reforms are reflected including the provision on a minimum wage.”
Further on the key advancement in the standard contract, Nasri also said the new version reinforces on the provisions in Qatar labour law on the fact that workers should not be charged for their recruitment by going beyond and mentioning that recruitment cost should be borne by the employers. Reiterating with more details the labour law on the specific stage of the recruitment process and recruitment fees and costs, she added.
“We understand that this new version of the standard contract has been already shared with private recruitment agencies and also Qatar Visa Centers and we will be working in the coming months with the government and our partners at ADLSA to see to what extent we could also create a system of digital authentication like for contracts of other workers,” said Nasri.
