Ministry acts to protect expats in Oman

 More than 20 businessmen have been referred to the judicial authorities after they failed to attend a scheduled meeting with the Ministry of Manpower.

The meetings come in line with the government’s plan to improve working conditions for over 16,000 expat workers in Northern Sharqiyah.

According to the Ministry: “It was not possible to reach 23 business owners with 862 commercial records and 5,175 expat workers. As such, legal action has been taken against them.”

The Directorate General of Manpower in Northern Sharqiyah is working to rectify the conditions of more than 16,000 expat workers employed by 112 businesses with 3,441 commercial records.

The ministry has intensified its inspections of private establishments to ensure that companies comply with labour law regulations and standards.

In a statement, the Ministry of Manpower said: “The ministry recently recalled 67 employers who have 1,479 commercial records, including 8,228 expat workers in order to correct the conditions of workers in their facilities within the framework of labour market regulation.

“In addition, 22 employees who registered a total of 1,100 commercial records with 2,599 expat workers were also recalled by the ministry to discuss the mechanisms of correcting the employees in the registered records.”

The Ministry stressed that all employers, including ones with multiple registered businesses, must comply with procedures laid down by the labour law or else the Ministry will not hesitate to take legal action against those institutions for violating its directives and will release its workforce if illegal acts have been committed.

The Ministry also appealed to all institutions and individuals not to hire illegal expatriate workers.