Oman's labour complaint site flooded

Muscat: Hundreds of workers, both Omanis and expatriates, have flooded a government online complaints portal in its first weeks of operation.
The Ministry of Manpower launched its complaint portal on June 1 and despite it only being accessible in Arabic, 512 people have used it. A further 28 people have reported abuses they claim to have witnessed at the workplace.
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That means the site has been averaging 12 complaints a day since it began, ranging from working hours, abuse of the mid-day break scheme and working conditions on sites, according to the ministry’s own data.
As of next week, workers will no longer be able to lodge complaints manually, according to the ministry, and an English language version is expected to come online in the coming weeks.
Most of the blue collar workforce in Oman is drawn from the expatriate community. The Indian Embassy in Oman set up a special unit to help Indian expats lodge their grievances via the online portal, using Arabic speakers.
An embassy spokesman confirmed the free service was being used by Indians to register complaints about working practices.
Indira Mani Pandey, Indian Ambassador to Oman, said, “We are helping those expats who want to register complaints against their employers when they approach the embassy, but we don’t keep any records to confirm the numbers.”
The portal, being run on a trial basis, recorded the complaints and reports between June 1 and July 15. The link is open for all private sector employees through the website of the Ministry and also available in smart phone applications.
Once a complaint is received, the ministry contacts the complainant through their mobile number and email address, text messages and sends mails to tell them where and when they can meet the ministry and their employer to resolve the issue.
The e-service includes filing labour complaints, follow-ups on the status of registered complaints, complaints about private sector establishments violating labour laws, as well as filing complaints about violating the rights of labourers.
The Ministry of Manpower has also announced that Omanis and expats working in the private sector will only be allowed to submit labour complaints against employers through the Ministry of Manpower (MoM) website beginning August 1 and that they will no longer accept complaints in writing or by post.
Further, nationals holding old ID cards, and expats with old resident cards, must renew these cards to obtain PKI-enabled cards, which will allow them to use the e-services offered by the ministry.
The Ministry of Manpower explained that a user’s guide is available on the website to allow the public to better understand how to communicate with the ministry.
The ministry stated that 268 labourers had absconded, while 254 were released by their employers and 41 were referred to the ministry by a third party over labour law violations last week.
Workers in Sohar and Salalah will also be able to submit their claims during the next phase of expansion. Sulaiman Khalili, assistant director at the Information Department at MoM, told the Times of Oman that the service is currently in the trial phase and in future, it will be expanded across Oman.
Article 7 of the Oman Labour Law states that the employee’s right to make any claim under the provision of this law shall expire after the lapse of one year from the date on which such a claim arises.
The online platform also clearly points out that an employer cannot act against the complainant for approaching MoM to lodge a complaint.
Muscat-based social workers praised the new service, but said it will be more helpful for workers when English is added.