Qatar: 14 months after lauded labour reforms, workers say employers are "ignoring" new laws, refusing job change requests & withholding salaries
Summary
Date Reported: 22 Nov 2021
Location: Qatar
Other
Not Reported ( Security companies ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 1 - India , Security companies , Gender not reported )Issues
Intimidation , Restricted mobility , Wage Theft , Freedom of MovementResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: None reported.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 22 Nov 2021
Location: Qatar
Other
Not Reported ( Security companies ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 1
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 1 - Kenya , Security companies , Gender not reported )Issues
Restricted mobility , Freedom of MovementResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: None reported.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 22 Nov 2021
Location: Qatar
Companies
Al Jaber Engineering - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 4
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 4 - India , Construction , Gender not reported )Issues
Recruitment FeesResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Journalist
Action taken: Al Jaber Engineering did not respond to the Guardian's requests for comment.
Source type: News outlet
"The road to reform: have things improved for Qatar's World Cup migrant workers?" 22 Nov 2021
...Qatar announced sweeping labour reforms in 2019. This included ending kafala... Other reforms included the first minimum wage for migrant workers in the region and harsher penalties for companies that did not comply with the new labour laws...
the reforms were met with wide acclaim. Fifa called them groundbreaking. The UN said they marked a new era. An international trade union referred to them as a gamechanger. Even human rights groups, long critical of Qatar’s record on labour rights, gave them a cautious welcome.
Yet more than 40 migrant workers who talked to the Guardian in Qatar in September and October this year say that for them, nothing much has changed...
the Guardian met only one worker – a young man from Kenya – who had managed to leave his job...
[Workers] allege that their companies are simply ignoring the new laws. Some say their bosses threaten to impose fines or hold back wages if they try to change jobs, and that they are living so close to destitution this could be catastrophic.
Others workers say that employers refuse to sign resignation letters or to issue “no-objection certificates”, seemingly unaware that neither are required under the reformed labour code.
[Refers to Al Jaber Engineering.]