The Qatar Labour Law And The QFC Employment Regulations: The Key Differences Explained

The terms of employment of the majority of employees currently working in Qatar are governed by Law No.14 of 2004 (Labour Law) except those individuals and entities which are expressly excluded, including the employees of the Qatar Government and Qatar Petroleum amongst others. These employees are often subject to employment laws and regulations which are materially different than those set out in the Labour Law, e.g. they receive additional allowances, longer holidays and may be subject to different termination provisions.

Whilst the excluded employees are aware of which regulations govern their employment there would appear to be a general misconception in Qatar as to how the Labour Law exclusions are applied, i.e. to which entities and employees, which often leads to questions being raised as to why one employee working for one entity receives one benefit when another working for another entity does not.

This article will now try to address some of the questions which are often raised in relation to the employment provisions of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) in the context of those of the Labour Law. The QFC is an exempt entity with its own unique employment regulatory regime.

The QFC employment provisions are set out in the QFC Employment Regulations No.10 of 2006 (QFC Employment Regulations) and apply to the employees of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority and the employees of its licensed entities and institutions in addition to the employees of the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, the Civil and Commercial Court and the Regulatory Tribunal. This article initially considers the key differences and then provides further details in relation to additional matters of interest.

KEY DIFFERENCES

Minimum requirements of an employment contract

Labour Law: a written employment contract, attested by the Labour Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs should be executed for each employee. The employment contract must comprise of three copies with one copy delivered to each of the parties and the third copy to be deposited with the Labour Department.

The employment contract must specify terms including, the name of the employer and place of work, details regarding the employee (name, nationality, profession, residence and proof of identification), the nature and type of the work, the employee's start date, the period of the contract and the agreed salary information. Notwithstanding the requirement for an employment...