QUESTION: I have submitted my resignation papers. The company has just calculated my final settlement but the period of probation is excluded therein. I was under probation for one year at the start of my service. Isn’t the probation period normally included for gratuity calculation and other terminal benefits? It is written in the employment offer issued in early 2000 that probation period will be excluded from the calculation of settlement. The stand of the employer is that this agreement was prior to the current Law.
AX, Doha
ANSWER: The probation period, once completed, will be considered as employment with the employer. It will be taken into account in calculating gratuity and other terminal benefits.
Regarding agreement made prior to the implementation of the prevailing Law, Article 4 of the current Labour Law is relevant.
According to its provision, any agreement contradictory to the Law shall be void even if it was made prior to the date of effectiveness of the law unless the stipulation is more advantageous to the workers and any release, compromise or waiver of the entitlements prescribed for the worker shall be deemed void.
Family sponsorship
Q: I work with a company which doesn’t offer family status to me. Can my father-in-law sponsor my wife (his daughter) and child? Four years ago before our marriage, my wife was in Doha under the sponsorship of her father’s family status visa. Now she is in Doha on a visit visa and is also working with a company. Can she get a permanent resident visa from the company? I have an offer from another company which is ready to offer family status to me. Can I quit my current job and take up the new one?
AC, Doha
A: As per regulations, your father-in-law cannot sponsor neither his daughter as she is married nor his grandchild. However, if your wife is working she can be provided a visa by her employer and subject to her employer’s permission you can explore the chances of her sponsoring the child.
With regard to your resigning and coming back on another employment, Article 4 of the sponsorship Law restrict grant of working visa to an expatriate, who has been residing in the state for work purposes for two years from the departure date unless otherwise supported by No objection letter issued by the current employer.
Compensation for accident
Q: My husband met with an accident while at work. The accident was due to the negligence of a company employee. The company repatriated him after terminating him from service. My husband is still under treatment and is incapacitated. The company hasn’t paid any compensation. The management says the accident was due to the negligence of a co-worker and hence the company itself cannot be entitled for compensation. Please advice.
HUM, Doha
A: According to Article 209 of the civil laws, a master is liable towards an injured person for the damage caused by an unlawful act of his servant when the act was performed by the servant in the course, or as a result, of his employment. The relationship between master and servant exists even when the master has not been free to choose his servant, provided he has actual powers of supervision and control over his servant.
Accordingly the employer is liable for the detriment caused as a result of an unlawful act by the employee where that act was committed during the course of the employment.
Therefore, where an employee disregards the health and safety instructions of his employer resulting in the injury or death of another employee or third party, the employer may be liable for the acts of the employee who caused the harm.
Settlement with bank
Q: I work with a private company in Qatar. While in employment in Dubai before coming to Doha, I had a credit card and loan problems in the UAE. My bank holds a blank cheque signed by me. How can I solve the problem? My family has received a call from the bank that it is filing a case against me. Can they still sue me even if I am out of the UAE? Can I stop the cheque?
SJ, Doha
A: As per procedures, the bank can file a criminal complaint by virtue of the guarantee cheque deposited with the bank, and the case can be referred to the court in order to claim the outstanding amount. The court, in such a case, passes its judgment in the defaulter’s absence, the person will become a defaulter and his name will be circulated everywhere. Seek settlement with the bank to avoid complications.
In the matter of blank cheques and stop payment, by endorsing a blank cheque with signature and handing it over to the beneficiary, the drawer of the cheque has effectively granted the beneficiary unqualified authority to fill in the amount.
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LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
In the case of sale made during a person’s last illness to a heir or a non-heir at a price less than the value of the sold at the time of death, the sale shall apply for the heirs if the augment of the sold value with respect to the price does not exceed the third of the succession comprising the sold itself.
But if the difference exceeds the third of the succession, the sale for the portion exceeding the third shall apply to the heirs only if they approve it or if the purchaser settles to the succession the complement of the two thirds.
A sale made by a patient during his last illness shall be subject to the provisions of Article 1014 of the civil laws. Accordingly every legal disposition made by a person during an illness immediately preceding his death, with the object of making a gift, is deemed to be a testamentary disposition and must be governed by the rules applicable to wills.
The heirs of the person who has made such a legal disposition are the persons on whom falls the onus of proving that it was made by the deceased during an illness immediately preceding his death. This proof may be tendered in any way.
If the heirs establish that the legal disposition was made by the deceased during an illness immediately preceding his death, the act is deemed to be a gift, unless the beneficiary proves that the contrary was the case.
Article 515 of the civil laws define company / partnership as a contract by which two or more persons undertake to contribute jointly to an undertaking of a pecuniary nature by the provision of contributions of property or business, with the object of sharing in the profits or losses of the undertaking. Companies of a commercial nature shall, regardless of the objects thereof, be subject to Commercial Companies Law.
Commercial companies shall be subject to the provisions of the Commercial Companies Law, Law of Commerce and the following provisions which do not con filet with the provisions governing them.
A company is deemed, by the fact of its constitution, to be a juristic person. Such juristic person shall not be effective unless the company’s memorandum of association is authenticated at the appropriate authority. A company’s memorandum of association shall be in writing, otherwise it shall be deemed null and void. All amendments to the memorandum of association shall also be null and void unless they comply with the same form whereby the memorandum of association shall be drawn up.