Sunday 10 / November / 2024
Muscat: Anyone trading in No-Objection Certificates (NOC) is breaking the law, a senior official at the Ministry of Manpower said, after it emerged that some Oman-based workers were told to pay their own air fares in lieu of obtaining the document.
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“Trading NOC is illegal. Companies cannot do it. If companies are demanding leaving employees to pay their own air fares in lieu of NOC rather than asking for cash, then the employees should approach the ministry complaint department. It is against law,” Said Salem Al Saadi, advisor to Minister of Manpower, told Times of Oman.
“Companies are indebted to provide ticket for a leaving employee to his home country according to the job contract. 100 per cent it’s responsibility of the employer... If an employee is not provided the same, he should approach us and we will take up the case legally,” the advisor added.
In 2014, Omani authorities implemented a two-year visa change ban for expatriates which means they require an NOC from current employers should they wish to join another company in Oman or leave the country.
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According to government officials, the rule was implemented to stop expatriates switching jobs and joining competitors.
Recently, an expatriate professor in Oman was told by the institution to pay her air fare in lieu of the NOC.
“I was told by the institution that if I purchase my ticket, then they will provide me the NOC. Annual to-and-fro ticket is mentioned in my job contract. Then again, they are telling me to purchase my ticket,” the professor said.
“I approached the labour department, they said that they can talk to officials to get me the ticket but they can’t talk and sort out the NOC issue,” the professor, who has completed three years in the same institution, added.
According to the professor, her colleague has also been told the same by the institution officials.
A legal advisor in Muscat said that to-and-fro ticket will be mentioned in every employee’s contract and employers can’t violate it.
“Employers are bound to provide annual to-and-fro ticket. If the employers are violating it, then the employee can approach the labour dispute department,” the legal advisor added.
Tonia Gray, general manager at Competence HR, said that she hasn’t heard about employees being told to pay their own air fares in lieu of NOC rather than asking for cash.
“The law states that the employer is responsible for the flight and also that there should be no charge imposed upon the employee for an NOC. In my view it is unfortunate that the law doesn’t state that an NOC must be issued if the employee completes their contract,” the general manager at Competence HR, said. Mohammed Khaldi, a board member of the General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), said that asking money or any kind of benefits in return of issuing an NOC is wrong.
“Employees should expose such companies who are violating the law. Workers should come forward,” the trade union leader said.
“Denying a return ticket for an employee or telling him to purchase it is a blatant violation of law.
“These kind of issues remind us that there is a need for a standard job contract approved by the government,” the trade union leader said.
According to a report issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total number of expatriate workers in the Sultanate witnessed an increase by the end of April 2016 totalling 1,763,710 workers, an increase of 1 per cent when compared with 1,747,097 workers by the end of March 2016.
The report revealed that expatriate workers in the Sultanate are distributed across three sectors: government, private and family sectors including 1,564,532 males and 199,178 females.
The number of workers in the private sector by April 2016 end reached 1,430,965 including (32,412 females and 1,398,553 males), reflecting an rise of 1 per cent, compared with March 2016.
