Companies told to pay salaries through bank

Muscat, August 23 - As part of the government’s wage protection programme, the Ministry of Manpower has warned companies against violations in employees’ salary transfer to banks. The Sultanate’s Labour Law mandates that salaries be paid to the employees through authorised banks or financial institutions. The ministry, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), is expected to launch a national Wage Protection Programme in November this year. On its Twitter handle, the ministry said on Wednesday, “There will be an online programme in cooperation with the CBO to ensure there is no violation in payment of salaries as agreed in the employees’ contracts.” Through Article 53 of Oman’s Labour Law, a wage protection system was introduced by the ministry and CBO in January 2014, making it mandatory for the private sector to pay salaries through authorised banks to ensure employees’ rights are protected. “The system will help the ministry monitor online the entire process of salary credit of employees, which will help in the event of disputes over non-payment,” the ministry said. With a database in the system in regard to the payment of wages, the ministry will get automatic updates of salary transfers from employers to banks. Experts also expect this will help the ministry gather information on the Omanisation targets. According to the CBO, employment in the private sector continued to gain traction and witnessed a growth of 9.0 per cent in 2016, on top of a growth of 8.1 per cent in 2015. In the private sector, the employment of expatriates increased by 9.3 per cent compared with a rise of 6.4 per cent for employment of Omanis in 2016. Nonetheless, the number of Omanis employed in the private sector is rising steadily and has indeed exceeded that in the public sector in recent years. SAMUEL KUTTY