Almost 3,000 private companies in Qatar have little to no regard for the country’s labor laws, according to a new government survey, the Peninsula reports.

Those findings and more will soon be published on the Ministry of Labor’s website, allowing prospective employees to check the performance of any company that has made them an offer.

So far, some 56,000 private companies have been classified into A, B and C categories, with A being the most desirable to work for, and C the least.

Definitions

Only 6,410 firms have made the “A” list, which is considered to be the elite tier of companies who treat their employees very well. Some 1,440 of these companies have fewer than six workers. 

About 83 percent of firms surveyed (46,655) have been classed as “B.” This group were found to have committed only “minor” violations of the law.

And 2,950 companies have been ranked C. These companies have histories of missing or late salary payments, abusing workers’ rights and “are blacklisted for their flagrant violation of the labor law,” the Peninsula reports. About 108 of these companies have more than 500 employees. 

The specific violations of the law made by the companies have not been identified.

The ministry said that it hopes displaying the lists online will encourage companies to clean up their acts, and by doing so, improve their ratings:

“We will be updating the classification every six months based on our field surveys and close interaction with the companies,” Mohamed Al Mir, assistant director of Labor Inspection Department, told journalists at a press conference. This is an incentive we are offering these companies. This would create healthy competition in the private sector and more and more companies would like to emulate the A-grade ones and climb up to the elite list.”

Last year, Qatar also began producing report cards for manpower firms, the vast majority of which are still subpar, but showing signs of improvement.

Under the MOL’s new system, some 27,000 private companies have yet to be classified, and no date for the online publication of the data has been set. 

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Credit: Photograph by The Italian Voice