02 July 2015
Muscat: Companies which do not pay their employees' salaries through the banking system will be fined, and even face closure, under tough rules set to be brought in to enhance the Wage Protection System (WPS).
In line with Article 53 of the Labour Law, the WPS was introduced in January 2014 by the Ministry of Manpower and the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), making wage payment in the private sector mandatory through authorised banks to ensure the employees' rights and prevent labour-related problems.
In an exclusive interview with Times of Oman, Suhail Al Khusaibi, head of the WPS programme at the Ministry of Manpower, said at the moment there is no punishment for companies which do not comply with the rules, for a number of reasons.
However, under a new system being introduced by the CBO, private companies will 'most likely' face punishment from the beginning of next year if they do not comply with the WPS regulations, the official said.
The exact date has not been officially determined and will be announced by the minister or the undersecretary but January 2016 is the date that companies should be aware of and prepare themselves for, added Al Khusaibi.
At the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment 2014, the Best eProject Collaborative went to the WPS project.
The punishment will include fines and closure of their services and they will face problems regarding visa issuance, he said.
He added that by January 2016 the CBO will be implementing a programme using Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to facilitate the WPS, which will probably be ready by the end of this year.
Al Khusaibi said that for several reasons a mild approach has been adopted for compliance with the WPS.
According to him, sometimes companies deposit salary into workers' accounts but because the information provided by either the company or the bank for the transaction is not complete, it is not sent for the WPS record.
The latest statistics show that by the end of May 2015, 619,627 employees of 1.6 million workers in the private sector have been registered in the WPS database, but Al Khusaibi says that the actual figure is much higher.
Due to incomplete transaction information, the number is lower in the database, he said, adding that awareness campaigns have been conducted about each transaction.
The necessary information include the name of the employee, the civil number and the company's commercial registration (CR) number and the transaction should be identified as 'salary' transaction, the official noted.
The procedure is that the company sends the money through the bank which is then sent to the CBO and finally to the WPS database. Therefore, if the information is not complete, it will not be recorded in the database, he said.
No excuse
Al Khusaibi said the ACH system would leave companies with no excuse as it will ensure that all the information coming through the banks from the companies are correct and it will be sent to the authority concerned automatically.
He explained that employers have been given time to address these issues. The other reason has been that some banks may have been reluctant to open accounts for some workers, mainly those with a salary of less than OMR100, he said.
The authorities are doing their best to address this issue and it is a matter of time which will be resolved throughout the process, Al Khusaibi noted.
He said that the target of 100 per cent WPS coverage is expected to be achieved in mid next year, but it is hoped that it is met sooner. Even in other countries that have implemented the WPS, the process has taken several years to cover all the employees, he said.
Muscat: Companies which do not pay their employees' salaries through the banking system will be fined, and even face closure, under tough rules set to be brought in to enhance the Wage Protection System (WPS).
In line with Article 53 of the Labour Law, the WPS was introduced in January 2014 by the Ministry of Manpower and the Central Bank of Oman (CBO), making wage payment in the private sector mandatory through authorised banks to ensure the employees' rights and prevent labour-related problems.
In an exclusive interview with Times of Oman, Suhail Al Khusaibi, head of the WPS programme at the Ministry of Manpower, said at the moment there is no punishment for companies which do not comply with the rules, for a number of reasons.
However, under a new system being introduced by the CBO, private companies will 'most likely' face punishment from the beginning of next year if they do not comply with the WPS regulations, the official said.
The exact date has not been officially determined and will be announced by the minister or the undersecretary but January 2016 is the date that companies should be aware of and prepare themselves for, added Al Khusaibi.
At the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment 2014, the Best eProject Collaborative went to the WPS project.
The punishment will include fines and closure of their services and they will face problems regarding visa issuance, he said.
He added that by January 2016 the CBO will be implementing a programme using Automated Clearing House (ACH) system to facilitate the WPS, which will probably be ready by the end of this year.
Al Khusaibi said that for several reasons a mild approach has been adopted for compliance with the WPS.
According to him, sometimes companies deposit salary into workers' accounts but because the information provided by either the company or the bank for the transaction is not complete, it is not sent for the WPS record.
The latest statistics show that by the end of May 2015, 619,627 employees of 1.6 million workers in the private sector have been registered in the WPS database, but Al Khusaibi says that the actual figure is much higher.
Due to incomplete transaction information, the number is lower in the database, he said, adding that awareness campaigns have been conducted about each transaction.
The necessary information include the name of the employee, the civil number and the company's commercial registration (CR) number and the transaction should be identified as 'salary' transaction, the official noted.
The procedure is that the company sends the money through the bank which is then sent to the CBO and finally to the WPS database. Therefore, if the information is not complete, it will not be recorded in the database, he said.
No excuse
Al Khusaibi said the ACH system would leave companies with no excuse as it will ensure that all the information coming through the banks from the companies are correct and it will be sent to the authority concerned automatically.
He explained that employers have been given time to address these issues. The other reason has been that some banks may have been reluctant to open accounts for some workers, mainly those with a salary of less than OMR100, he said.
The authorities are doing their best to address this issue and it is a matter of time which will be resolved throughout the process, Al Khusaibi noted.
He said that the target of 100 per cent WPS coverage is expected to be achieved in mid next year, but it is hoped that it is met sooner. Even in other countries that have implemented the WPS, the process has taken several years to cover all the employees, he said.
© Times of Oman 2015
