Labour Ministry agrees new regulations for guest workers

The Jordan Times
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009, 9:29 am Amman Time



By Hani Hazaimeh

AMMAN - The Labour Ministry on Tuesday finalised amendments to regulations governing the recruitment of expatriate workers, a measure expected to facilitate the hiring of foreign workers and streamline the sector.

"The amendments will be sent to the Cabinet for endorsement today [Tuesday] and will be put into effect after they are published in the Official Gazette," Labour Minister Ghazi Shbeikat said yesterday at a press conference.

Under the new regulations, expected to come into force next month, the bank guarantee required of employers who seek to recruit non-Jordanian workers will be cut by half, which will offset an increase in work permit fees.

Shbeikat stressed that the increase in work permit fees was aimed at protecting Jordanian workers and was decided in consultation with all parties concerned with the labour sector, adding that the revenues, generated from around 300,000 work permits the ministry issues or renews, will be used to support the recruitment of unemployed Jordanians.

Shbeikat noted that the new regulations came after the government agreed to raise work permit fees by JD70 for guest workers in all sectors except for the agriculture sector, in which fees will be raised by JD40.

The minister added that the fee raise is “insignificant” and will not affect the industrial sector, adding that the cost of guest worker recruitment does not exceed 15 per cent of total production costs.

Meanwhile, Shbeikat said that as of Thursday, the ministry will temporarily suspend its inspection campaign, which started last year, until the new regulations are in place, adding that guest workers in the Kingdom who are violating the Labour Law will be given a one-month grace period to rectify their legal situations.

The minister said the grace period will spare around 9,500 non-Jordanian workers who are working in the Kingdom without permits or whose work permits have expired. The decision includes Egyptian and Syrian workers and excludes those who came into the Kingdom on a tourist visa or to visit a relative.

Moreover, under the new regulations, workers employed in the construction and agriculture sectors will be able to change their workplace within the same sector, provided that they inform the ministry of the name of their new employer in order to update the ministry's database.

Starting August 1, the ministry will provide a one-stop-shop service for employers in order to facilitate their businesses, through which the recruitment of guest workers and the issuance and renewal of work permits will be done in one place.

As part of the measures aimed at protecting workers' financial rights, the minister said the new regulations will give the labour minister the authority to liquidate bank guarantees if an employer fails to fulfil financial obligations towards his employees, a measure that formerly required court approval.

Meanwhile, Shbeikat said the ministry is reconsidering an article in the Labour Law under which women are banned from working after 8:00pm, noting that some employers, such as malls and megastores, work late-night hours.



29 July 2009