Many Qatari employees are waiting for some long-anticipated and important laws to be issued. It is time for these laws to be rushed as it is not possible to wait for years.
These laws must be taken seriously by the decision-makers and there should be no hindrance or unnecessary delay, especially with regard to the much-awaited Retirement Law and the Human Resources Law.
One may ask why issuing laws and regulations in the country takes years, and sometimes decades. Why are state authorities secretive about laws? Why does examining these laws take so much time? Some jokingly say that many Qataris have died and gone to the afterlife waiting for these laws.
Why was the Retirement Law delayed?
What really confuses us is that we do not know who studies these laws before they are issued. Do the authorities studying them include all Qatari citizens? Do they include non-Qataris? If the answer is yes, the matter will take more time.
Retirement laws came into force in the neighbouring Gulf countries decades ago and were applied in a manner that serves the citizens and protects their interests.
Many citizens wonder about the reason behind the delay in the absence of any official who would break the silence and assure people that the law is on the way and will be issued soon.
Citizens only want their rights in this law in return for serving the country.
Some of the proposed terms of the law were published by some media outlets. However, the authorities denied the reports or did not respond to them, leaving us in confusion.
One of the things that must be mentioned clearly in the coming amendment is the retirement age, which is the same as that in some neighbouring countries.
Citizens must have the right to continue working even after reaching the retirement age if they are healthy enough to do so. Employees should also not get retirement without a valid reason before reaching the retirement age.
Several foundations, authorities, institutions and universities have proposed different retirement ages, ranging from 60 to 70 years, or more for the Supreme Judicial Council. The retirement age should be uniform in all government bodies.
As for the end of service benefits, they should not be extended for a while longer that citizens does not get in a service time that does not exceed 15 years by salary of two months per each year. Lots of privileges and incentives to Qatari retired employees, especially outstanding employees.
When the Human Resources Law was issued five years ago, everyone was optimistic about it, however, after it came into force, some flaws and loopholes emerged. This made us think that whoever regulated these laws was not a Qatari citizen. This is the case with several laws that do not serve the citizens a on priority basis.
The new draft of this law needs to focus on:
1- Developing the evaluation system, focusing on efforts of employees and their additional tasks.
2- Paying interest on the periodic allowance, advantages and annual incentives and increasing them.
3- Encouraging individuals who specialise in a field.
4- Providing specialised courses to employees to improve their performance and add to their experience.
5- Granting outlook allowances to the largest number of Qatari employees in the highest position possible.
6- Not hiring anyone without announcing the job vacancy officially.
7- Addressing complaints of Qatari employees and not opposing them if they are right, which would contribute to the work and encourage healthy competition.
8- Not requiring employees to work after work hours, that too without payment. Married women and mothers must be spared additional work.
9- Specifying retirement age must be optional after specifying legal age, and impossible conditions should not be imposed on Qatari employees while expats are spared.
The decision-makers need to speed up issuing of these laws to serve Qatari citizens, which would achieve Qatar’s National Vision 2030 in terms of human development, investment in Qatari citizens and preserving their rights in return for their service.
