As the initial deadline to implement a new electronic salary payment system in Qatar approaches, several questions remain about the logistics of the process.
According to a new law signed by Qatar’s Emir in February, companies will soon be required to pay their employees through direct bank transfers, making it easier for expats and the government to scrutinize and document any late or non-existing payments.
Employees should be paid in Qatari currency once a month, or for some category of workers, every two weeks.
For the past several months, various governmental organizations, including the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Qatar Central Bank and the Ministry of Interior have been working to create a database of blue-collar workers and their companies.
According to the Peninsula, once the new system comes online, companies will send money to banks, which will directly deposit wages into an employee’s account. Workers would then be notified of the transfer.
Questions
Many companies have been given half a year to sort the system out, a deadline that expires next Tuesday, Aug. 18.
Once the grace period is over, employers in violation of the amendment could face jail time of up to one month and fines of QR2,000 to QR6,000.
However, MOLSA has the discretion to further extend the deadline. With several questions remaining about the EPS system’s implementation, such a move is possible.
The Peninsula reports:
“It is not known if a company will have to use its existing bank or would need to open a separate account with a bank the labour ministry-QCB suggest. It is also not known if workers will have to chose banks to open WPS accounts or the labour ministry-QCB will assign them banks.
It is also not clear if exchange houses will be part of WPS but indications are they might be.”
Nevertheless, mandatory direct bank transfers are a significant part of a package of labor reforms that Qatar has been promising to implement for over a year.
Other pledges, including revising the law to make it easier for expats to change jobs and leave the country, remain in the works.
Thoughts?
So the law was signed in February, and they had six months to implement the system. But they announced it EIGHT DAYS before the system goes live?
Who knew that the law was signed in February? Where was the announcement? And what companies have had six months to sort out the new system? We know that some of the biggest companies in Qatar were notified about the new system last week. Others likely just found out about it today – perhaps in this article.
Oh, and the banks don’t seem to have any details about the WPS. We found out about this last week, and we ended up giving our bank details…as far as anything that has been released so far can be considered details.
This is kind of surprising, even for Qatar.
This is weird. The article says that several organizations worked together to create a database of blue-collar workers and their companies. I find it hard that they do this without getting back to companies and requesting (or checking/confirming) labourers details from them. That said it Is possible that some companies were not informed the right way or not informed at all. There are tens of thousands of businesses here and this is a human work so errors and miscommunication should be expected.
Please check Gulf Times of 19 Feb 2015 with bold headline “Salary through Banks only from now”.
How come the responsible managers of businesses don’t take these types of news seriously and make appropriate arrangements? They should make some efforts to find out the details of the new rules concerning the employees, their implications, and the methods of complying with them.
I will clarify. While there was an announcement in February, there were no details whatsoever. These are the first “details.” And it’s comical to see that the banks know nothing – now five days before the system is due to go live.
Anybody who wanted to get started back on 19 Feb could not – at least as far as preparing for the exact requirements of the system goes. The banks still cannot answer basic questions, and I’m sure that the authorities also cannot. As with so many things here, the intent is good (and I’m all for it, BTW), but they did not think this through.
It was reported in Gulf Times, they also reported it here in Dohanews last February 18. (https://dohanews.co/qatars-emir-approved-changes-countrys-labor-law/). It was also reported in several local Arab newspapers.
My advice to you is to always check Gulftimes and Dohanews. They’re excellent sources of information. I have to remind you that this is Qatar, so don’t expect news to come to your lap.
Clarification above. Anyone paying attention knew what was released in Feb, but the problem is that Feb’s info included no details about the system.
It’s not as simple as it may sound. This is not just a requirement pay staff via bank transfer. Great that you follow the news, but some people have to dig deeper into these things instead of reading headlines and figuring we know it all. The fact is that the first details of the actual requirements were only released last week, and even that was not public.
You want to test it? Call your company’s bank. Ask them the deadline to receive your company’s payroll info for the month. Ask them when salaries will actually be transferred. Ask them acceptable reasons for transferring different amounts than stated in the contract. As of yesterday, these basic questions could not be answered. This is the problem.
Let’s see how you react when your salary is delayed because your company made a mistake that they may not have realized was a mistake. An implementation like this is serious. Do you really think it’s going to go smoothly? Like road repairs are always seamless?
I can’t react to delays because we’re already 100% compliant here – since 2 months ago.
We started working on it when we’ve seen the announcement last February. We have fully cooperated and communicated with the Labor Office regarding the details, with excellent effort made by our PROs. We pay Employees their salaries through paycards or regular account, based on their gross salary. And it has gone smoothly, without any hitch, whatsoever.
Now, I’ve only responded based on your initial comment, “But they announced it EIGHT DAYS before the system goes live?” “Who knew that the law was signed in February? Where was the announcement?”. But now you’re saying that its the details that you lacked. And that you’re trying to check with the bank but they’re unable to respond to your questions.
If you’re company is not unduly deducting people’s salaries and are paying them on time, you shouldn’t have that kind of questions. Because as long as you pay before the 7th of the month, and that you have fully documented your deductions, which are legal based on the law and you’re disciplinary standards, you’re quite safe.
What about companies that are contracted by the state to provide services in the state of Qatar, that pay their employees into accounts outside the state of Qatar?
If you have an RP by law you have to be paid in riyals into a Qatar bank account
Those are special contracts for special people…
Can someone remind me what the situation is regarding air conditioned buses? I understood that they all had to be by now but I still see many going past with all windows open
you cannot renew registration of bus or truck now without AC. So latest by May next year all vehicles will have AC. Best time to start importing Ac units 🙂
Clearly the deadline won’t be met if it is still unclear what the banking situation is!
Also I hope they think this through. I’m not sure what the method of payment is used for most bluecollared workers now but I hope they educate them on the transition and not just give them a paper with their account number and tell them the money is in there.
What if one doesn’t read english or arabic well enough to use an atm machine? Will they have access to a bank during the limited time off they have?
I fully agree with you!
Who is going to report violations? The bank or the employer? And where has the complaint to be submitted? And then, what will happen?
Some companies already have this system in place. the workers gets something like a prepaid bank card. not a real account with all the regular options, but they can withdraw at the atm and so. I was at the atm at the wholesale market a few times and some guys pushed me their atm card in my hand and a paper with a pin code. As they didn’t understand english well, it was hard for me to explain to them how much is in the account and how much they want to withdraw…
Unless the banks provide a whole lot more ATM’s there will be chaos at month end.
Good luck to the workers trying to open bank accounts. My company had 3 new hires from Sri Lanka refused savings accounts with QNB this week as “their salaries are too low”. Minimum Qr5000 salary was the policy according to QNB.