The period of non-competition agreements shall not exceed two years

By Nizar Kochery
Doha


QUESTION: Is there a confidentiality and non-competition law for workers in Qatar? I work as a salesman with a trading company. My manager wants me to sign a “confidentiality and non-competition” agreement. I don’t want to do it and have submitted my resignation. I have no plan to come back to Qatar. Under the circumstances, can the employer insist that I sign the agreement even after I have submitted my resignation?
AA, Doha

ANSWER: Article 42 (8) of the Qatar Labour Law stipulates that the employee shall not disclose the secrets of the employer even after expiry of the contract. Regarding restrictive covenants, under Article 43, where the work assigned to a worker allows him to become acquainted with the employer’s client or to become familiar with the secrets of his business, the employer may require him to refrain, after the termination of his contract, from competing with him or participating in any enterprise competing with his own.
Such agreement shall be valid only on condition that the agreement is limited, as regards the time, the place and the nature of the business, to the extent necessary to safeguard the employer’s lawful interest.
The period of such non-competition shall not exceed two years. However, the employer cannot compel the employee to execute this as condition for cancellation of the visa.

Landlord refuses
to accept rent

Q: Our rental contract dates from 2000. No new contract has been signed since then. The landlord asks for a 5-10% increase in rent every year and we pay by cheques in advance. This year at the end of September, we went to the landlord with cheques for one year but he neither refused to accept cheques nor cash.
DT, Doha

A: According to the rent laws, if the landlord abstains from receiving the due rent, the tenant may, not later than a week of the date agreed upon or of the month, for which the rent is due, notify the landlord by means of a registered letter to receive it within seven days.
If he fails to receive the rent during this period, the tenant shall within next seven days deposit it in the safe of the civil court/rental dispute committee against no fees.
This shall be considered as payment of the rent on the prescribed date. Both the tenant and the court shall notify the landlord of this deposit by a registered letter. The deposit receipt shall be considered a document absolving the tenant from the value of the due rent to the extent of the amount deposited.
Please be cautioned that the landlord may rescind the rent contract, even before the expiry of the period if the tenant for no justifiable reason fails to pay rent within seven days of the date on which it falls due.

Company
in trouble

Q: If a company fails to pay its debts even after a court judgment, does it affect the authorised signatory? Our company is in a bad financial condition and many execution cases have been filed against us. I am the authorised signatory of the Qatar branch and the company’s shareholders are in the UAE. Based on a court order, I’m placed under a travel ban. What are the rights available to the creditors to get their money?
DP, Doha

A: Apart from imposing travel ban, as per Article 514 of the Procedural Law, if the judgment debtor abstains from the execution of final judgment issued against him, the judgment creditor may request the imprisonment of the judgment debtor. The execution court may order the imprisonment of the judgment debtor and if the debtor is a corporate legal entity, the order of imprisonment shall be issued against the authorised representative.

Employee
at a loss

Q: I came to Doha under a domestic worker visa in 2014. I worked with a company owned my sponsor as a cleaning staff. Later when a servant went on leave from my sponsor’s house, I was shifted from the company to replace him. Meanwhile, the company has appointed new staff for cleaning and other services. After two months, the old servant came back. Now I neither have any job in the company or at the sponsor’s house. The sponsor is not paying any salary to me. Can I work for another employer?
KO, Doha

A: Under sponsorship laws, there is restriction on working for another employer while residing in Qatar. An employee is not allowed to work for another employer other than the employer from whom he has received sponsorship. Working with a company or household which is not the worker’s sponsor is a crime punishable with fine or jail term. Similarly, employing a worker who is under someone else’s sponsorship has been declared a crime.

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