QUESTION: I work with a contracting company on a two-year definite contract and have already completed one year. For the past three months I have not gone to the company because it has no job for me. The company manager is not in Doha because of financial problems. Can I file a complaint with the Labour Department for non-payment of my salary? My company has made me sign a letter saying I would not work for a competitor. It now seems that the company has filed a complaint against me for absconding.  I haven’t absconded. Can I use my colleagues as witnesses in the case?

ST, Doha

 

ANSWER: File a complaint before the Labour Department for non-payment of salaries. Taking unpaid leave because the company is planning to close down and trying to avoid paying its employees is not advisable.

Article 44 of the Labour Laws stipulates that the employer shall undertake to enable the worker to perform the work. If the worker attends the place of work and is willing to perform the work but could not do so for reasons beyond his control, he shall be considered to have actually done the work and be entitled to his entitlements.

Accordingly, the employer is obliged to pay the worker’s salary as long as such a worker is on the employer’s employment even if no work has been assigned.

However, the employer has the right to terminate the employment contract or file an absconder complaint if the worker is absent from work for more than seven days continuously.

The worker has to try to prove before the court that he did not abscond and the complaint is malicious. The worker has the right to plead before the judge to allow him to call his colleagues as witnesses.

 

Landlord’s condition

Q: My landlord doesn’t respond to my e-mail correspondence regarding the end of my lease, saying that only a written notice would be accepted. Also, the landlord says I shouldn’t leave the house unless he has made an inspection of it? I have paid all rents and the only problem is I haven’t “hand-delivered” a letter announcing the end of lease to the landlord. He threatens not to return the deposit to me even if I hand over the keys unless his inspection is over.

JL, Doha

 

A: If there is any provision in the lease contract which indicates that “only written notices” are allowed, then the notification must be this mode; otherwise, if no provision states so, any means of communication shall be accepted by the law. To avoid complications, provide landlord with the letter in writing and allow inspection of the premises. Otherwise the inspection will be delayed and the procedures will take extra time.

 

Rules on autopsy

Q: Is post-mortem banned in Qatar? In case of death of someone who was healthy, what are the procedures for his family members to call for a post-mortem? Is it necessary to have permission from the family for post-mortem?

ET, Doha

 

A: Except for criminal or pathological reasons or for educational purposes, Autopsy of human corpses is prohibited in Qatar under Article (2) of Law No 8 of 2003. Autopsy shall be carried out for reasons such as: “suspecting that there is a crime in the occurrence of the death” or “death resulting from committing a crime or associated with a crime”.

A forensic physician shall carry out autopsy in both cases on the basis of a resolution by the competent investigating authority, and it is not necessary to obtain the permission of the family of the deceased.

According to Article (4) of the said law, autopsy for pathological purposes is implemented in case the reason for death cannot be known by means of clinical inspection, laboratory, X-ray and medical analysis provided that it is carried out in a period not exceeding 24 hours since the time of death or knowing about it. In this case, autopsy shall be carried out on the basis of a resolution by the minister or the person who authorises after obtaining permission from the court. It has to be implemented by a physician of histology and it is not necessary to obtain the permission of the family of the deceased.

Autopsy for educational purposes shall be implemented for the purpose of studying the human body. It shall be implemented by the specialist faculty members in medicine colleges and their students under the supervision of their professors.

It is not possible to implement autopsy for educational purposes except after obtaining an authenticated permission from the deceased person before his death or the permission of his inheritors and the consent of the religious court.

It is also possible to implement autopsy of deceased persons who identity or inheritors or relatives who may object to autopsy are not known. In all cases, it is not possible to carry out autopsy if the deceased said in his will that he did not want his corpse to be subjected to autopsy.

l Please send your questions by e-mail to: [email protected]

 

LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR

The third party holder who has transcribed his title to the property may purge the property of any mortgage inscribed before the transcription of his title in the Land Registry.

The third party holder can exercise this right even before the mortgagees have served upon him a formal summons to pay. Such right may exist until placing the attachment entry over the property’s registration at the request of the mortgagee.

If the third party holder decides to proceed with the purge of the property, he must serve upon the inscribed creditors a letter by registered mail together with an acknowledgement slip, containing:

(a) An extract of his title deed, setting out the particulars, nature and date of the act of disposition, full and precise description of the property and particulars of its previous owner. If the disposal is a sale, the price and its attachments should be indicated.

(b) The date and number of the transcription of his title in the Land Registry.

(c) A list of rights inscribed on the property before transcription of his title. This list shall contain the date of the inscriptions, the amount of the inscribed debts and the names of the creditors, and

(d) The sum at which he values the property. This sum must not in any case be less than the sum remaining to be paid by the third party holder on the price of the property if the act of disposition was a sale.

The third party holder must, by the registered letter informing his intention to pay off the inscribed debts up to the amount at which he has valued the property. His offer need not be accompanied by a cash amount, but must be an offer showing his willingness of settlement by an amount payable immediately whatever may be the date of which the inscribed debts accrue due.

According to Article 1099, every inscribed creditor and every surety of an inscribed debt has the right to apply for the sale of the property which the third party holder wishes to purge, provided that his application is made within thirty days of the date of the last registered letter accompanied by an acknowledgement slip.

The application shall be made by a registered letter accompanied by an acknowledgement slip to the third party holder and to the former owner. The applicant must deposit in the court treasury a sum which is sufficient to cover the cost of the sale by auction, but he shall have no right to a refund of expenses advanced by him if no higher price than that offered by the third party holder is obtained as a result of the auction.

The failure to comply with anyone of these conditions entails the nullity of the application. The applicant may not renounce his application without the consent of all the inscribed creditors and all the sureties.