A new Labour Law with regard to the private sector has been issued to match Bahrain’s development and the continued efforts to achieve international standards.
The Minister of Labour Jameel bin Mohammed Humaidan has been given six months to come up with the necessary by-laws to fully implement the new law. The Minister stated that the new law is a result of a significant cooperation between a committee established to review all the material and develop the initial draft of the law and Parliament and is aimed at bringing the practices and benefits for private sector employment in line with the public sector.
The new law addresses both employment and humanitarian concerns with regard to domestic workers who were previously not protected by law. They will now be employed under proper contractual terms in line with humanitarian and work-related regulations of all Private Sector employees. This is seen as a major component of preventing human trafficking in Bahrain.
The previous labour law for the private sector was issued nearly 36 years ago and therefore left many legislative gaps and loopholes, especially in relationship to workers negotiations with management and ways of settling disputes. Since that time Bahrain has ratified a number of work-related international conventions, which created a need for the new law as a means of achieving better synchronization with the standards of international labor best practices. The Minister further explained that the new law includes many newly developed labor rights and will directly address the problem of unemployment.
The legislation now includes tougher punishments for companies that flout health and safety standards; grants private sector workers 30 days of annual leave; and increases the length of maternity leave to 60 days instead of the current 45, who would also be entitled to another 15 days off without pay if additional time was needed. Failure to implement proper health and safety standards at work could carry jail sentences of up to three months and/or fines of BD500 to BD1000. The punishment is doubled for a repeat offence.
Under the new law, dismissed employees are entitled to compensation, which prevents disputes between individual and collective workers and employers, and contributes to the stabilization of the labor market in the Kingdom. Employers who violate the new Labour Law will face fines of BD200 to BD500.
Employees will be granted sick leave of up to 15 days with pay per year, 20 additional days with half pay and 20 more days without pay. The sick leave could be extended by up to 182 days if ordered by a medical commission.