The Minister of Labour (MoL) has issued a decision 72/2024 on the Wage Protection System that ensures the employer’s commitment to transfer the wages of his workers to their bank accounts based on the Labor Law issued by Royal Decree 2023/53.
The Wage Protection System aims to monitor the payment of wages to private sector workers electronically, to ensure that the employer is committed to transferring the wages of his workers to their accounts at one of the banks or financial institutions subject to the supervision and control of the Central Bank of Oman, in the amount agreed upon in the employment contract, and within the period stipulated by law.
The employer is obligated to update the employment contract if there is any change in the wage of one of his employees, provided that the contract shows the actual wage of the employee.
The employer is obligated to transfer the wages of his employees through the Wage Protection System to one of the banks or financial institutions subject to the supervision and control of the Central Bank of Oman within no more than three days from the end of the period for which the wage is due.
The competent division in the Ministry of Labor shall take the necessary measures to monitor the implementation of the wage protection system, monitor the disbursement processes, and prepare a database for this purpose.
The employer is exempted from transferring the worker’s wage through the Wage Protection System in the following cases - a labor dispute arises between the worker and the employer, resulting in the worker being out of work for a period exceeding thirty days, suspension of the worker from work for a reason not attributable to the employer for a period exceeding 30 days, leaving work and the lapse of a period exceeding 30 days from the date of its approval. Other conditions are that the new worker who has not completed thirty days from the date of his employment or the worker who is on unpaid leave.
A committee shall be formed in the Ministry of Labor to study requests for exemption from transferring workers’ wages provided by private sector establishments through the Wage Protection System. A decision shall be issued by the Minister to form it and determine its work system.
In the event of a violation of the provisions of this decision, the Ministry of Labor may impose the following administrative penalties: Warning, suspending the service of granting initial work permits, until the cause of the violation is removed and an administrative fine of RO50 for each worker, and the fine is doubled in the event of a repeat violation.
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