KUWAIT: Social Affairs and Labor Minister and State Minister for Planning and Development Affairs Hind Al-Subaih asked employees at the computer sector of the Manpower Public Authority (MPA) to speed up the projects of computer systems through which transaction processing can be started at the labor sector online without the need to go to the department. The minister was speaking after receiving the second batch of outstanding employees at the authority to honor them for their efforts.
Subaih said that a large number of projects will be finished soon, through which MPA’s services can be done online, expecting to start in September. She said all these projects will contribute to organizing the marketplace, transparency and preventing any manipulation in transaction processing. She said the goal is to have all transactions processed electronically, and ending the era of paperwork, and reduce the number of employers who visit labor departments.
Labor inspection
In other news, MPA recently explained the new mechanisms in inspecting companies, saying that the mechanisms are built on continued coordination with the Interior Ministry’s residency detectives’ department. The coordination has yielded a task force from both sides, which had a positive effect on the market place, it added.
It said that the labor inspection department inspects companies to make sure about their compliance with the private sector’s labor law. Employers are given a grace period to avoid violations based on article 141 of the labor law. When the violation continues, the employer is referred to the investigations department, and his file will be suspended until the violation is corrected.
The statement said that there are some grave violations, including that the facility is not at the address given, which is a violation that warrants closing the file, while the employer in this case will be sent for the investigations department.
Furthermore, MPA said that more than 1,588 absconding cases were solved in an amicable settlement after being registered by employers against expat labor.
MPA said that through coordination with those concerned at the interior ministry, it was agreed to cancel absconding complaints for some cases including Palestinian travel document holders, children of Kuwaiti women, and expat laborers’ wives who work in the private sector.
Meanwhile, MPA said that the latest statistics show that the number of files suspended permanently for violating the rules of article 10.2 of law 6/2010 in regards to working in the private sector reached 703 files, 663 of it in 2015, and 67 file from the start of 2016 until June 23. This article states “the employer cannot bring employees from abroad, or use employees from inside Kuwait, then does not give them jobs at his facility, or if proven he does not actually need them.”
Inmates sue ministry
Several central prison inmates said they filed lawsuits against the Interior Ministry because of a fire that killed one person and injured scores of other prisoners. Lawyer Ali Al-Ali said some of the injured are very critical, adding that the Interior Ministry is to blame for not safeguarding the inmates’ lives, and its lack of an emergency plan.
By A Saleh
