aseel KUWAIT: Official spokeswoman of the Manpower Public Authority (MPA) Aseel Al- Mazeed. — Picture courtesy of Al-Anbaa

KUWAIT: Official spokeswoman of the Manpower Public Authority (MPA) Aseel Al-Mazeed said the authority undertook the treatment of the market place situation since day one of its establishment, and preserves the rights of laborers, which confirms Kuwait's keenness on protecting workers in general. She said this is what the Kuwaiti laws and regulations confirmed, while Social Affairs and Labor Minister, State Minister for Planning and Development Affairs Hind Al-Subaih laid the correct ways to deal with the labor market's imbalance since she took over.

Mazeed said "I want to confirm that there is nothing in Kuwait's laws what is called kafeel (sponsor), rather there is a job, based on a contract signed between two parties, employers and employees, and it is what links and regulates the relation between the two sides.

Reform measures

Mazeed said MPA took several reform measures in this regard in coordination with Acting Director Ahmad Al-Mousa and Deputy Directors General. These measures include: making new rules to transfer work permits, rationalizing the issuance of work permits in a way that meets true needs of the employer, placing a new mechanism to estimate the private sector's needs of labor, in addition to forming a committee with government authorities to place a new mechanism to estimate the labor of government projects which represents a large group of expatriate labor in the market, and the committee presented its recommendations and are being implemented based on a certain time schedule.

She added that MPA also issued several regulatory decisions for small and medium businesses, and designated Mubarak Al-Kabeer labor department as a model to register their files there, besides an inspection apparatus that is attached to MPA Director General's office, that is fast in inspecting files of employers.

Mazeed said that MPA also restored the committee of ruling on absconding complaints once again to quickly decide on cases in coordination with the interior ministry. MPA also formed the higher committee of labor transfer disputes for workers on government contracts to other government contracts in exchange of fees and were decided by a ministerial decision, preparing a model work contract that includes the rights and commitments of both sides (employer and employees), and it became effective since the start of 2016.

Amendments

Mazeed said MPA prepared a draft law to amend some of the private sector labor law no, 6/2010, that includes amendment of article 57 related to transferring wages to banks, also amending some punishments mentioned in the labor law by stiffening punishments according to the grave violations committed by some employers. And in order to put an end to some of what was going on by some unethical workers at labor departments, and in coordination with the interior ministry, offices that belong to the interior ministry at labor departments were established to follow any manipulation by unethical persons, including employees, employers or mandoobs (company representatives). The MPA concentrates on dealing with work situation in departments and punish violators, she said, adding that violators are sent for questioning and face legal procedures.

As for the agricultural sector, she said a joint committee was formed between MPA and the Public Authority for Agricultural Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAAFR), to inspect agricultural lands and make sure that laborers registered on them are actually working there. Also, a joint committee was formed between MPA and the General Department of Investigations to examine files of violating employers and make sure they are in good standing before sending them to investigations department, as the case was with violators who were sent.

Regulating the marketplace

Mazeed said that some of MPA's measures to regulate the marketplace, a decision on the condition of labor transfers from one employer to another, including:

Article 1:

Labor brought in can be transferred to the private sector according to the following conditions:

1- Having one year elapsed on the work permit.

2- Employer's approval of transfer to another employer.

Article 2

Laborers brought in with private sector work permits for government contracts and projects can be transferred to work for the private sector according to the following rules:

1- The end of the government contract for which the worker was brought.

2- The transfer should be limited to another government contract for the same employer, if available, or another government contract for another employer, provided that the transfer is limited to technical labor decided by the government entity that owns the project.

3- The employer undertakes the cancellation of registered labor on the government contract, which is not allowed to transfer in order to leave the country when the contract is over.

Article 3

Work permits for the laborer brought for sectors mentioned below can be transferred within the same sector he was brought for after the elapsing of one year from the work permit date and approval of the employer and they are: Industry, agriculture, shepherding, fishing. Transfer outside those sectors is prohibited.

Article 4

Work permits for workers brought to work in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ), or with foreign investors who are practicing the economic activities mentioned in law 116/2013 in regards to encouraging direct investment in the state of Kuwait, and employers are committed to canceling work permits of those laborers to leave the country when the work relationship is ended.

Article 5

Work permits can be transferred without the elapsed period condition and approval of the employer under the following conditions:

1- Transfer labor employed locally in all sectors, except for work permits of labor used locally in the sectors mentioned in article 3 of this decision, and labor used locally on government contracts, which must have one year elapse from the date of work permit issuance.

2- Dissolving, liquidating, bankruptcy or merging the business with another, or the change of its legal status, or its transfer through inheritance, will, gift, stale, or other legal means, provided that is proven with a judicial and administrative document.

3- Transfer workers in the government sector to the private sector and vice versa, taking into consideration regulations of interior ministry.

Article 6

In cases when transfer is allowed according to the rules of this decision, the worker can ask for the transfer of his work permit after the elapsing of three years since the issuance of the work permit without referring the employer, while meeting the following conditions:

1- Allowing the employer the warning period stated in article 44 of the private sector labor law 6/2010.

2- The concerned labor department will make sure when it receives the application for the transfer of the work permit that a copy of the note sent by the employee to the employer telling him about the warning period.

In case it was not possible for the employee to prove granting the employer the warning period mentioned in article 44 of the said law, he should submit a work permit complaint at the labor relations department in which he informs the employer, and the complaint's date will be used as the start of the warning period, and the employer cannot submit a statement of not reporting to work during the warning period.

Article 7

In cases which work permit transfer is allowed according to the rules of this decision, disputes of work permits will not be considered before one year elapses from the issuance date of the work permit, and the authority can approve the application of work permit transfer without the approval of the employer or reject the application submitted by the employee, after discussing the dispute by the concerned department.

Article 8

Family visa can be transferred for work in the private sector for those who spent one continuous year in the country, with consideration of interior ministry procedures.

Article 9

Labor brought with invitation to work in the private sector cannot be transferred, and labor brought by commercial visas to work with employers having contracts with the American military are excluded from this condition. The transfer should be done according to the following conditions:-

1- The transfer should be for the same contract the worker was brought for.

2- Payment of KD 200 extra fee.

3- Compliance with the national labor percentages decided by cabinet decisions.

Article 10

Domestic help cannot be transferred to work in the private sector, and domestic help that is transferred to work in the private sector cannot be transferred before applying the rules of this decision until after the elapsing of three years from the date of issuing the work permit. - Al-Anbaa