Tuesday 23 / April / 2024
Muscat: Omani and expat workers in Muscat can now submit labour complaints against their employers online to the Ministry of Manpower (MoM), which has opened a web portal on a trial basis.
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Currently, the service is available to workers registered with companies operating in Muscat and the portal is in Arabic.
However, a senior official at the MoM said an English language
facility will also be made available soon and workers in Sohar and Salalah will also be able to submit their claims during the next phase of expansion.
Sulaiman Khalili, assistant director at the Information Department at MoM, told the Times of Oman that the service is currently in the trial phase and in future, it will be expanded across Oman.
“We are working on this as part of enhancing our e-Service operations. Complaints registered online will be addressed without any delay,” the official added.
The online complaint platform states that the complainant should not delay in lodging his claim, as per Article 7 of the Labour Law.
Article 7 states that the employee’s right to make any claim under the provision of this law shall expire after the lapse of one year from the date on which such a claim arises.
Regarding cases instituted before the implementation of this law, the one-year deadline will commence from the date on which the law comes into force.
The online platform also clearly points out that an employer cannot act against the complainant for approaching MoM to lodge a complaint.
While explaining the current practice, a legal advisor in Muscat said another way to register a labour complaint is that the complainant approaches the Labour Dispute Department and fills in the form available there with all details about the complainant, employer and labour claims.
“The labour claims filled in the form will be considered as the basic one even if the case goes to the Supreme Court. Usually, in two or three weeks, the complainant and the employer will be summoned for the hearing in the dispute department. If the dispute is not settled in the dispute department then it will forwarded to the court,” the legal advisor added.
According to the manpower official, other than the online registration of a complaint, the other procedures will be the same.
Meanwhile, a Muscat-based social worker praised the new service, but said it will be more helpful for workers if English is added.
“As most of the expats are from Asian countries, it would be hard for them to fill in a form which is in Arabic. The social workers who are willing to help them also find it hard. When English language is made available then it would be a blessing,” Shameer PTK, an Indian social worker in Oman, said.
