In the past month, there have been several labour and employment law developments, chief among them: i) with COVID-19 restrictions lifted, employers are now able to return to the office at 80% capacity; and ii) the government has launched an online platform to facilitate the filing of labour complaints by employees.
Lifting of COVID-19 Restrictions
With the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions across Qatar, employers are now able to return to the office at 80% capacity.
Unified Online Platform for Complaints and Whistleblowers
The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA) recently launched the ‘Unified Platform for Complaints & Whistleblowers’, an online platform used to facilitate labour violation complaints made by employees and establishments in the private sector, as well as domestic workers.
The platform will be launched in phases, with the first phase enabling users to file labour complaints against establishments and or employers, follow-up on the status of existing complaints, as well as review and update the user’s contact details as registered on the MADLSA’s database. Anonymous reporting is also possible.
Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel
Very little information is currently available about the Unified Platform for Complaints & Whistleblowers, and it remains to be seen how complaints will be processed and what action will be taken, in practice.