Sheikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy, confirmed that the draft salary law for citizens working in the private sector through the unemployment fund for months (April, May and June) for the year 2020 according to the maximum salary stipulated in the Social Insurance Law included eight economic initiatives and incentives.
These initiatives include the referral of a bill to the legislature as a matter of urgency in accordance with Article (87) of the Constitution, which aims to guarantee the salaries of Bahrainis insured in the private sector for a period of three months, starting in the month of April 2020, and financing is from the surplus of the insurance fund against unemployment.
For his part, Minister of Labor and Social Development Jamil Humaidan stressed that the financial and economic package worth 4.3 billion dinars, including the urgent bill, is a proactive step to prevent Bahraini workers from falling into unemployment, which is at the heart of the goals of the unemployment fund.
Humaidan added that paying workers’ wages in the private sector will enhance the principle of the preference of Bahrainis among employers, revealing that the size of the segment benefiting from this support is more than 100.000 Bahrainis, in addition to benefiting from other economic incentives.
In his answer to the inquiries of the Parliamentary Services Committee in the Parliament, the Minister confirmed that Article (46) of the Labor Law in the Private Sector, as amended by Decree Law No. (4) of 2019, has ensured protection of wages, and Resolution No. (68) of 2019 was issued, with a penalty.
The fine, according to Article (188) of the Labor Law in the Private Sector, against those who violate the wages provisions, and the presence of inspectors at the Ministry, who will perform their effective role in order to deter those who do not commit to paying wages.
Some deputies had asked for the exception of some sectors in the private sector to benefit from wage subsidies, considering that those sectors were not affected by the consequences of the Coronavirus.
It is worth noting that the amendment carried out by the draft law provides benefit from the unemployment insurance fund with a total value of BD 215 million to protect Bahraini employees working in the private sector from the risk of unemployment due to the current economic conditions.
#Bahrain #Coronavirus #COVID19 #Workers #PrivateSector #Wages
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