DISPUTE RESOLUTION MECHANISUMS IN QATAR LABOUR LAW

INTRODUCTION

Law No (14) of the Year 2004 is the Qatar Labour law. The Law is applicable for every Labours and Professionals including Quantity Surveyors. It has described most significant areas related to employees in sixteen parts, namely;

Part 1: Definitions and General Provisions

Part 2: Vocational Training

Part 3: Regulation of The Employment Of workers

Part 4: The Individual Labour Relationships

Part 5: The Disciplinary Power of the Employer

Part 6: Wages

Part 7: Regulation of the Working Hours and Leave

Part 8: Employment of Juveniles

Part 9: Employment of Women

Part 10: Safety, Vocational Health and Social Care

Part 11: Work Injuries and Compensation Thereof

Part 12: Workers Organizations

Part 13: Joint Committees, Negotiation and Collective

Part 14: Collective Disputes

Part 15: Inspection of Work

Part 16: Penalties

Dispute resolution is one important area for Quantity Surveyors. They advice clients regarding construction disputes and moreover they may practice as Adjudicators, Mediators and Arbitrators. Nevertheless, he also in a risk to subject to disputes with his employers and Clients.

Hence it is important to know the applicable law for QS's working in Qatar in relation to labour dispute resolution.

Aim of this article is to discuss the labour dispute resolution mechanisms available in the Laws.

As I discuss in “Dispute resolution mechanism”, there are several types of Dispute resolution mechanisms available in the world such as Negotiation, Mediation, Conciliation, Mini trial, Arbitration and Litigation.

In the Law has adopted following Dispute resolution mechanisms for labour disputes resolution.

1) Negotiation

2) Mediation

3) Conciliation

4) Arbitration

NEGOTIATION

According to the Article 129 any disputes between employer and workers shall try to settle by themselves.

“If any dispute arises between them and some or all of his workers the two parties to the dispute shall try to settle it between themselves ....”

MINI TRIAL

Article 129 states, in case of a dispute between employer and workers, if there is a joint committee in the company, they can be referred the case to the committee. Joint committee hasn’t address in the Law in detail; however this would be similar to the Mini Trial approach.

“If there is a joint committee in the establishment the dispute shall be referred to it for settlement.”

MEDIATION

If above two mechanisms failed then the next step is Medication.

According to the article 129, workers shall submit complaint in writing to employer with a copy to the labour department and the employer shall reply in written to the worker within one week, with a copy to the department. If the reply does not resolve the dispute department will try to settle it through Mediation within 15 days.

“1. The workers shall submit their complaint or claim in writing to the employer with a copy thereof to the Department.

2. The employer shall reply in writing to the complaint or claim of the workers within a week from his receiving the same and shall send a copy of the reply to the Department.

3. If the reply of the employer does not lead to the settlement of the dispute the Department shall try to settle the dispute through its mediation.”

CONCILIATION

If they fail to bring both parties in to a common ground within 15 days, then the department should submit the dispute to a Conciliation committee.

“If the mediation of the Department does not lead to the settlement of the dispute within fifteen days from the date of the employer's reply the Department shall submit the dispute to a conciliation committee for its decision thereon.”

According to the article 130, the Conciliation committee shall comprise 3 members. One shall nominate by the employer and other by the workers. Chairman of the committee shall be appointed by the Minister. The committee have authority to get assistant of a specialized consultant to make a decision. The committee shall give its decision within a week and it shall be binding on the all parties, if they had agreed to refer the dispute to the committee.

“The committee may be assisted by consultation with any of the specialists before deciding on the dispute and shall issue its decision on the dispute within a week from the date of its submission thereto.

“The decision of the committee shall be binding on the two parties to the dispute if the parties had agreed in writing to referring the dispute to the committee before its meeting to decide on the dispute and ....”

ARBITRATION

If parties have agreed to refer the dispute to arbitration, the above conciliation step is not applicable and the dispute will directly refers to an arbitration procedure.

“.... and if there is no such an agreement in this respect the dispute shall be referred to an arbitration committee within fifteen days and the arbitration shall be mandatory for the two parties.”

According to the article 131, the Arbitration committee shall be formed under the presidency of a Judge. One member is a representative of the workers and others, a representative of Qatar Chamber of Commerce and a representative of the Ministry.

According to the article 132, the committee shall render final awards on majority basis. However in case of equality of votes the chairman of the committee shall have a casting vote. Committee can review documents and conducts hearing before they make the award.

“The committee in carrying out its duties may peruse all papers, documents and all evidence and may compel any- person possessing these papers, documents and evidence are to produce the same and may enter the establishment for conducting necessary inquiry and take all necessary procedures for settling the disputes.”

Until the dispute settle, both parties shall continue their duties and responsibilities. It has clearly mentioned in article 133.

“An employer may not close the place where he is employing the workers or stop the work or refuse to continue to employ any worker by reason of a dispute that has not been decided on by the conciliation or arbitration committee.”

It is a good movement, that Qatar has totally depends on Alternative Dispute Resolution methods rather than traditional litigation with regarding labour disputes. There is no information regarding the cost of dispute resolution in the act.

Q & A

Scenario:

Mr.Bhathiya practised as a Quantity Surveyor in Qatar for ALEC Contracting Limited. He got an accident and admitted to the hospital. He discharged from the hospital and return back to home after 2 weeks from the accident. He has informed to the ALEC, that he is still not well and needs another additional 2 weeks for rest as sick leave since already he finished his all sick leaves. However ALEC has rejected his request and asked him to report to the office. Mr.Bhathiya also refuses the company’s request.

Finally the contract was terminated by the company. After the termination, other employees planned to go on strike against the termination.

1. Can Mr.Bhathiya refuse to come for work by refusing company’s request?

According to the article 112 such disputes (dispute arises between the worker and the employer as to the ability of the worker to resume his work) shall refer to the competent medical authority and their decision shall be final.

2. Can employees go on strike?

Yes. But under certain circumstances and subject to approval of the committees.

“Workers are allowed to form a committee if there are at least 100 Qatari workers in the company. The Labour Law also contains provisions allowing workers to go on strike under certain circumstances and subject to approval of the committees. While this may afford some protection for rights of workers in certain large organisations and industries, those who are employed in small businesses or in trades that almost exclusively employ foreign workers would not be eligible to form such a union or committee.¹”

In 2010 September, 90 labourers were arrested by the police and deported for strike against their company that violated an agreement with them².

REFERNCES

1. Law update. (2009). Labour law. [Online]. Available from: http://newsweaver.ie/altamimi/e_article001432208.cfm. [Accessed: 05th October 2011]

2. Migrant right. (2010).Nepali workers deported from Qatar for daring to strike. [Online]. Available from: http://www.migrant-rights.org/2010/09/23/nepali-workers-deported-from-qatar-for-daring-to-strike. [Accessed: 05th October 2011]

3. Law No (14) of the Year 2004, Doha: Qatar Labour Department.