A company engaged in a project for the Ministry of Communications has been accused of withholding salaries of workers and demanding money from the employees in order to renew their visas.
Around 200 workers from the errant company recently filed a complaint with the Labor Relations Department of the Employment Protection Sector in the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM) alleging that the company had not paid their salaries for four months. They pointed out that since the project had ended, the company was now demanding that each worker pay KD900 for the residence permit, which would allow them to take up employment with any other company. The company representatives also threatened that if they did not pay the amount they would be expelled from the company and subsequently deported from the country without getting any of their dues.
When representatives of the company were summoned by the authorities at PAM they could not provide a satisfactory response for their actions, which prompted PAM to warn them they could face legal action on numerous counts, including for infringing on the rights of the workers, violating the labor law and for indulging in human trafficking.
It is now known that the workers had earlier complained to PAM about non-payment of salaries, and representatives of the company had been summoned on that occasion and asked to provide an undertaking that the financial dues of the workers would be settled. But the company did not fulfil this promise and hence the strong response from PAM.
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