QUESTION: I have resigned from a company after working with it for the last 15 years. My full salary is QR7,000 with the basic being QR4,500. I have gone on vacation four times only in these 15 years. The company offered paid leave for every two years. Does Qatar Labour Law provide paid leave every year? Since I have resigned, can I claim my remaining leave salary and how will it be calculated, every year or two years?
MS, Doha
ANSWER: Upon completion of one continuous year in the service of the employer, the employee shall be entitled to an annual leave with pay. This leave shall not be less than three weeks (Article 79 of Law No 14 of 2004 effective January 2005) /two weeks (prior January 2005 as per Article 47 of Law No 3 of 1962) for the worker whose service is less than five years and four weeks for the worker whose service is more than five years.
The employer may on a written request of the worker postpone not more than half of the annual leave to the year following the year of its entitlement. Article 81 stipulates that the worker shall be entitled to payment in lieu of his annual leave equivalent to his wage for the leave days to which he is entitled if the contract is terminated for any reason before the worker takes his leave.
Discuss the matter with employer and seek assistance from the Labour Department as the worker may not waive his entitlement to the annual leave and any agreement to the contrary shall be void.
Wages register
Q: Please advice on the following matters with respect to employment in a company in Qatar: 1) proof of payment 2) paid Haj leave.
SN, Doha
A: Proof of payment: The employer is duty bound to maintain a wages register and shall not be relieved from his obligation to pay the wage due to the worker unless he has actually transferred it to the bank or the worker or his attorney has signed in acknowledgement of the receipt thereof in the register or receipt prepared for this purpose provided that the said documents shall include the details of the wage.
Paid Haj leave: There is no provision in Qatar Labour Laws for paid Haj leave. A special leave of 20 days without pay is provided. The employer shall decide the number of employees who are given Haj special leave every year, depending upon the requirement of workers and giving priority to long serving employees.
Private person making arrest
Q: In many other countries, a private person can arrest an offender. What’s the position in Qatar in this regard? Can a private person arrest an offender?
GY, Doha
A: According to Article 17 of the Qatar Criminal Procedure Code - Law No 15 of 1971, any private person may arrest any person who in his presence commits any crime, which enables the police to arrest him without a warrant for arrest, and hand him over to the nearest police station. If there is reason to believe that such person comes under those that the policeman is entitled to arrest him, the policeman must then re-arrest him; but if there is no reason to believe that he has committed any offence he shall be released at once.
Renewal of lease contract
Q: I had executed a lease contract with a landlord directly. I have always paid the rent on time. The lease started on February 28 last year. I have now received a registered letter from the landlord, terminating the contract and advising me to leave the place immediately. In the letter, he says I had failed to renew the contract in time, before February 27 this year. I have already paid the rent for March and he has accepted. What’s the validity of the lease?
DR, Doha
A: The lease is valid. On continuing the terms the lease got automatically renewed for similar period. Accordingly, the lease is valid for another year.
In general, a lease ends upon the expiry of the agreed term. However, should a tenant remain in occupation upon expiry of a lease with the knowledge and consent of his landlord, then the lease shall be deemed to have been renewed for a similar term on the same terms and conditions.
Bounced cheques
Q: Am I personally liable for being shareholder in a company for bounced cheques which are signed by its manager? I have no signatory rights and I hold the shares in my name on behalf of a friend who is also not a signatory.
LP, Doha
A: The shareholders who are not signatories shall be responsible for such cheques or any other claims related to the company only if they are guarantors and have undertaken to pay such claims. The manager who has signed the bounced cheque will be liable for cheating. In case of a judgment against the company in a civil suit, execution will be on the company’s assets only and within the limits of the share capital.
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LEGAL SYSTEM IN QATAR
A creditor shall not have the right to take proceedings against the surety alone, unless he has first taken proceedings against the debtor. He may only levy execution on the property of the surety after he has distrained all the property of the debtor unless the surety is jointly liable with the debtor. In both cases, it is for the surety to claim this right.
When a surety demands that the debtor’s property be first distrained, he must at his own expense provide guidance to the creditor as to property of the debtor sufficient to satisfy the whole debt.
Property so indicated by the surety will not be taken into account if it is situated outside the territory of the State of Qatar or if it is subject to a dispute. In all the cases where the surety has indicated property belonging to the debtor, the surety will be discharged of liability to the extent of the debt that the creditor has been unable to recover from the debtor for failure to take the necessary proceedings in due time.
When a real security is assigned as guarantee of a debt, and guarantee is also entered into subsequently or at the same time, without a stipulation that the surety is jointly and severally liable with the debtor, the surety’s property can only be seized after the real security assigned as guarantee has been realised.
A creditor is under legal obligation to hand over to the surety at the time of discharge of the debt, all documents that are necessary to enable him to exercise his right of action. When the debt is secured by a pledge of a movable or by a right of retention on a movable, the creditor must surrender such securities to the surety or to a justice officer if the debtor objects to the surrender thereof. However, when the debt is secured by a charge on real property, the creditor must comply with the formalities required for the transfer of such security.
The expenses of such transfer shall be borne by the surety, subject to the right of action against the debtor.
A surety who may be guaranteed by another surety shall be deemed towards the debtor as a surety of the surety and in his relationship with the debtor he shall be deemed as a principal debtor towards him.
In such a case, the creditor may not call upon the principal surety’s guarantee until he has taken action against the principal surety, unless the two sureties are themselves jointly and severally liable. Judicial and legal sureties are always jointly and severally liable with the debtor.