Doha: The Ministry of Labour has taken a slew of measures to streamline the work of agencies recruiting domestic workers overseas.
The measures which aim to safeguard the rights of employers, workers and manpower agencies include extending probation period of workers to nine months, fixing recruitment charges and enhancing the monitoring to ensure the enforcement of the measures.
The ministry has intensified its inspection campaign to ensure the adherence of manpower agencies to the rules and laws in place. So far, the campaign has resulted in closure of 11 manpower agencies and withdrawal of licence of one agency due to violations of the provisions of the law. The figures were shared by the ministry on social medial. The ministry said a manpower agency was found carrying out unauthorised activities such as cleaning and hospitality services.
“The inspection campaign will continue for several months. The inspectors armed with judicial powers will also make surprised visits to manpower agencies,” said Director of Recruitment Department at the Ministry of Labour, Nasser Al Mannai.
Speaking to Qatar TV recently, Al Mannai said the inspectors checked the validity of licences, commercial registration, municipality permit and computer card.
“After that, the inspectors move to accommodation provided by manpower agencies for housing domestic workers to ensure that male and female workers are living in separate facilities in a safe and healthy environment.”
Speaking about the violations, he said licences are given to manpower agencies to recruit domestic workers from overseas, not for carrying out any other business activities.
Al Mannai said the recruitment agencies were found engaging in a number of other unauthorised activities, violating some provisions of the law.
To a question about the action taken by the ministry against violating manpower agencies, Al Mannai said: “The inspectors record the violations and refer the violators to the security agencies for further action.”
Speaking about grievances against manpower agencies, he said the Ministry of Labour recently provided a hotline (40288101) and an email address (info@mol.gov.qa) where people can lodge complaints if any.
“The recruitment charges for domestic workers were fixed according to the nationalities of the workers in coordination with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI),” Al Mannai added.
He said during the inspection campaign, the inspectors recorded some violations related to recruitment charges which were referred to the Consumer Protection Department at MoCI for action.
He said the department had also received some complaints against the manpower agencies, related to delay in the recruitment process and returning the recruitment charges following the rules, which is required during the probation period.
