When is it permissible for you to terminate the work contract?
You can terminate your work contract whether it is fixed-term or open-ended without losing your right to the end of service benefits in the following situations:
1) If your employer does not adhere to the terms of the contract, or violates the labour law.
2) If you or one of your family members are assaulted or subjected to un-dignified treatment by your employer.
3) If the employer has been dishonest with you in relation to the provisions of the contract.
4) If there is an extreme danger that might risk your safety or health, provided that your employer is aware of this danger and does nothing to rectify it.
Is it lawful for an employer to discharge you of duty and terminate your contract without warning and without paying end of service benefits?
This is legal in the following situations:
Impersonation (when you assume a false identity or nationality) or present forged documents, certificates, and records.
Violation of workers and establishment’s safety regulations more than once, in spite of being warned in writing, provided those regulations are written and prominently displayed.
If you violate terms of the work contract more than once, or violate labour law even after being warned in writing.
If you are found drunk or narcotised while at work,
If you assault your employer or manager or one of your superiors during work.
In spite of a written warning, you continue assaulting your colleagues.
If you fail to report for duty without good reason for more than seven continuous days or fifteen interrupted days within a year.
If you are convicted of a crime related to dishonesty or morality.
Is it legal to terminate you during your vacation?
It is illegal to terminate your contract, or serve a notice of termination while you are on vacation.
When are you required to pay for your travel ticket?
– Your employer is obliged to pay for your travel ticket when on first arrival and when you leave after the end of your contract. He is also obliged to pay for your travel ticket when you go on annual vacation if your contract so states.
– You will have to pay for your own travel ticket if you decide to leave work abruptly, or if you resign before the end of contract without any legal reason.
– In case of open-ended contracts, your employer is obliged to pay for your travel ticket at the end of service.
How is the end of service benefits calculated?
– You are entitled to end of service benefit, if you have been on the job for one year or more and for every year of service there on. The benefits can be negotiated by the two parties, provided it is not less than the salary of three weeks for every year of service.
– If there is a dispute about your years in service of your employer, you may file a lawsuit
Women Workers:
Do you get equal pay as men for equal work?
You receive same wages as men when you do the same kind of work and you and you have the same opportunities for training and advancement. It is prohibited to make you work in hazardous and strenuous situations or in jobs that can harm your health or dignity and any other job as defined in ministerial decisions issued by the minister of labour.
How is a maternity leave calculated?
Fifty days with full payment, provided you have worked for one full year before applying for maternity leave.
Is it legal to end your contract if your health condition prevents you from reporting back to work after your maternity leave ends?
– No, it is illegal. You would then be considered on leave without pay, provided the duration is not longer than sixty days (continuous or interrupted). You should also provide a medical certificate describing your condition from specialist recognised by your employer.
– Maternity leave does not affect your right to other holidays.
How is breastfeeding break calculated?
Yes, you are entitled to break for one hour a day (to be decided by you) for one full year after the maternity leave.
Employing Juveniles:
What is the minimum legal age of employment?
– Sixteen years, with father or guardian’s consent. Also the person must get a special permission from the Labour Dept.
– If the person be a Qatari student, the Minister of Education’s permission is needed.
What are the positions works prohibited to juveniles?
All positions that can harm them in their safety, health, and morals.
Injury at work:
What is injury at work?
– Injuries caused by an accident during your duty or because of it. It can also happen on your way to or back from work, provided that you trip to or from work is not interrupted or diverted from your normal, daily route to the place of work. Death can also result from work injuries, and legal heirs are entitled to compensation in such cases.
– In case of such injuries, your treatment expenses must be borne by your employer as may bed decided by the concerned medical authority.
– You receive full salary during your treatment up to six months. If treatment takes more than six months, you receive half of your salary until you are fully recovered or proven permanently disabled.
– Total and permanent disability is considered same as death in terms of compensation.
– You can review work related injuries in chart No 1 and 2 of labour law No. 14 of 2004 to familiarise yourself about degrees of disabilities.
Is it legal to deny injury or death compensation in some cases?
Yes, this is legal if you are found to have intentionally injured yourself or found under the influence of narcotics or alcohol at the time of injury or death and this is established as the reason for injury or death. It is also legal if you if you refuse to undergo medical check-up without good reason or refuse to follow treatment prescribed for you by the medical body, or intentionally defy your employer’s directions regarding safety measures or be grossly negligent in that regard.
What is the period for paying compensation?
The employer should pay disability compensation within fifteen days from the date a worker is proven to be disabled, or the conclusion of investigations supporting disability because of work.
Employer should pay death compensation to court treasurer, within fifteen days of death or the date of conclusion of investigations supporting the cause of death as related to work.
Is it possible for you to lose your right to disability compensation or your heirs to their right to death compensation?
You lose your right to compensation for disability or death at work after one year of the final medical report stating the occurrence of disability, or one year from the date of death.
Excerpts from Handbook Of Workers’ Rights published by National Human Rights Committee.
