Tribune News NetworkDohaThe Ministry of Labour Affairs announced that the decision to extend probation period for domestic workers from three months to nine months will go into effect as of Saturday (January 8, 2022) in implementation of Decision No 21 of 2021 that amended some provisions of Decision No. 8 of 2005. According to the amended decision, office owners are bound by the instructions issued by the ministry and other authorities concerned in recruiting workers from abroad, the most important of which is to abide by the amendments to the labour legislation, regulations and policies in the country, and to provide the worker before he is recruited with a copy of the signed data and conditions of work from the employer.The employer is also obligated to issue a work contract for the worker before his arrival in the country according to the same conditions that the worker accepted, in addition to providing private housing and meals for the recruited workers.The ministry explained that the decision included obligating the licensee to guarantee an additional six-month probationary period for the user, starting immediately after the end of the three-month preliminary probation. The total probation period becomes nine months.During the additional probation period, the licensee shall guarantee the return of the sum paid to him by the employer, minus 15 percent of the total amount due, for each month the worker spent in the service of the employer during the additional probation period, with deduction of government fees incurred in any of the following cases: the worker’s refusal to work, the employee’s quit, the employee’s illness with a chronic disease, and the right of the employer shall be forfeited when the employer assaults the worker and violates any of the terms of the contract with the worker.The competence of MADLSA, represented by the Employment Department, is to study special requests for recruiting workers from abroad, granting licences to recruit workers from abroad for others, and settling disputes that arise between recruitment agencies and employers in accordance with the Labor Law and the decisions implementing it, and referring them to the judiciary if they cannot be settled amicably.