law or lies
By wanchai warrior •
1, The normal working hours in accordance with Qatars labour law is 208 hours per month/i.e: 48 hours per week? ( i know 208 divided by 4 is 52) but i'm just relaying what i have in front of me.
2, But i will be working 10 hours p/d x 6 days = 60 hours x 4 = 240 hours p/m (as stated)
3, but my working month is 260 hours? (as stated)
4, This is a good one, if you are planning on working/living in Qatar you must undergo an aids test? is this an employers own thing or law? or just b*ll***t. Any other true or false info would be most welcome.
Cheers people
W.W
That's true, I am on an hourly rate. That's always the problem with salary:) They can make you work whenever they want.
Hi scmasse, with all this 1.5x rates of pay i assume its for hourly paid personnel and does not include people who are on a salary based income?
Us locals have to do the HIV tests as well. As for overtime work, we get paid nothing unless we're jounior staff. As a senior staff your expected to work overtime, everyday, each day :/
DG you mean to say that you are NOT so inclined? Tsk tsk
wow--that sounds great! I easily work 50+ hours a week--just usually between Monday and Friday, so that's not an issue. As I will just be working in Doha for a few months through my company, I'm trying to arrange that my pay comes from Doha and not the US....otherwise, I don't think I'll get all the tax and labor benefits you mention above. Good stuff to know :)
I didn't get my AIDS test done till I was here almost 5 months. By that time I could have infected 100s of people (if I was so inclined). It's kind of silly.
With my company we work 5 days a week, one 10 hour day and four 9.5 hour days. According to Qatari labour law, anything over the 48 hours per week is "Supposed" to be paid at 1.25x. My company follows this as well.
Also according to Qatari labour law any work done between the hours of 9pm and 3am is to be paid at 1.5x. I have been working 2:30pm to Midnight for the last 3 months and my company has provided the 1.5x pay...this has been nice:)
The Qatari labour law has some great tidbits of information in it and you should hold your company to it. Also, there is an indemnity that is supposed to be paid by your company at the end of your time in qatar that is equal to 3 weeks pay per year that you have been in Qatar...That can be a nice chunk of change if you have been here a while!
For any of you who are not getting these benefits I recommend getting a copy of the labour law and bringing it to your company's attention...carefully of course...LOL
Anyone coming to Qatar with the intention of obtaining a residence/work permit must undergo a medical soon after arrival. They check for HIV, TB, hapatitis and maybe some other diseases.
The local press periodically prints results; all anonymous but they give figures for each disease, x number of people HIV, y number TB, etc.
While this prevents new arrivals from posing a threat to the community it doesn't preclude the very real possibility that someone might come back with something from a vacation or travel somewhere or even being infected by someone here on a visit visa who doesn't have to undergo the medical.
I think medical information should be private--taht's how it is here in the US.....but I can understand the fears of a country that has such a large number of immigrants who fluidly come in and out of the country--but yeah, that would be devestating to discover you have a disease, and lose your job.. guess the up side would be that you could start getting treatment.
Regarding the working hours question--everyone works 6 days a week? Really?? Even regular office jobs? I'm going to miss my weekends when I come down there :-(
Do people in general think this is a good thing or not? or do they have no preference its just the way it is.
the HIV test is done for us locals too, along with a buch of other tests as well when we apply for a job.
Its a bit daunting to me, that would be just great setting off for a new life only to find out that you no longer have a job because your dying of aids. not that i have aids, but surly it must of happened to some poor person, how would they feel? i can't get my head around it.
i dont know whether they give you a medical before you leave, probably depends on the company, your seniority and your age.
But the aids test nad other blood test will be done after you arrive in Doha, usually within a week or so arriving, they do not do anything in the airport. The test is done as part of your clearance to get a residence visa and to get an i.d. card, it is not as daunting as may you think.
Thanks for that laudgi7, can you answer this one, the aids test is carried out before you leave or in the airport in Qatar? (not sure where i'm going on this one)its all news to me.
its true thats the working hour is 48 hours but like many businesses your employees work longer same like many lawyers that do not work the 40 hours per week etc....
to do with the aids test its the law .. also with tb and some others