Public Authority of Manpower (PAM) said the decision for renewal of work permits for those 60 years above who hold only high school certificates is linked to the private health insurance mechanism, which is still to be decided on by the relevant authorities.
Media reports indicate that the decision on health insurance is likely to be taken this week, once it is approved by the Chairman of the PAM board of directors and Minister of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Abdullah Al-Salman, and work permit renewals could begin as early as next week.
The health insurance decision is likely to include three categories and each category will have a specific fee in accordance with the controls and conditions approved in special insurance cases. Once this decision comes through, PAM is expected to open the window for renewal or work permits through the authority’s e-services for automatic renewal.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the authorities are considering applying the revised health insurance fees on all expatriates aged 60 and over irrespective of their educational qualifications. However, for the moment the decision is likely to apply only to those in this category without a university degree or diploma.
In other PAM related news this week, the official spokesperson and Director of Public Relations and Media Department at PAM, Aseel Al-Mazyed, said PAM has administratively suspended the file of one of the companies and referred the company to the Public Prosecution to take legal measures for not paying the wages of its employees.
Commenting on a video clip circulating in the social media, which shows a cleaning company workers demonstrating in front of the Labor Relations Department in the Abu Fatira area, Al-Mazyed said that PAM investigated the labor strike and discovered the cause was non payment of salaries by the concerned cleaning company and that the demonstration at the end of last week was not the first.
She indicated that further investigation revealed gross violations of labor laws by the company, and accordingly the authority had decided to suspend its file and refer the company to the public prosecution. The concerned company was also notified of the action taken by PAM and that legal procedures in this regard have been initiated.
She added that the workers will get their material rights in coordination with the parties with which the employment contract is registered, while the company file will be referred to the Public Prosecution, especially since suspected criminal activities related to work contracts, non-payment of salaries and other violations are crystal clear.
