22/04/2021 Salary Abuses Facing Migrant Workers Ahead of Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022 | HRW extending the liability for wages beyond the immediate employer in subcontracting chains. DONATE NOW Summary According to Engineers Against Poverty, if a subcontractor does not pay a labor supply company, as in Priya’s case, then the main contractor, in this case, the Qatari public entity, could be held liable for this debt. This could serve two advantages: not only would it ensure workers are being paid in full and on time, but major contractors would also take greater responsibility for their subcontractor’s actions, and this would weed out non-reliable subcontractors. Qatar’s E orts to Tackle Unpaid Wages In 2015, in an effort to tackle the prevalent issue of wage abuse, Qatar introduced amendments to its labor law and unveiled the much-touted Wage Protection System (WPS), an electronic salary transfer system designed “to ensure that employers are obliged to pay the wages of workers who are subject to the Labor Code within the prescribed deadlines.”[48] The WPS was originally implemented by the UAE in 2009 and today all the GCC countries except Bahrain have rolled out different versions of the system.[49] In October 2017, in response to a forced labor complaint levelled against the country in 2014, Qatar agreed to a three-year technical cooperation agreement with the International Labour Organization in which they agreed to improving wage protection; enhance labor inspections and occupational safety and health systems; replace the kafala system with a system of government issued and controlled visas for workers (see above on kafala sponsorship system); step up efforts to prevent forced labor, and promote workers voice.[50] On wage protection, Qatar committed to enhancing the Wage Protection System (see below) and ensuring that sanctions for non-payment of wages are enforced; establishing a wage guarantee fund; adopting a non-discriminatory minimum wage; and expanding effective coverage of the WPS to cover small and medium enterprises, subcontractors and eventually domestic workers. Since then, and to great fanfare, Qatar has introduced several piecemeal reforms.[51] In regards to wage abuse, they set a temporary minimum wage for migrant workers, set up new Labour Dispute Resolution Committees designed to give workers an easier and quicker way to pursue grievances against their employers, and passed a law to establish a Workers’ Support and Insurance Fund, partly designed to make sure workers are paid unclaimed wages when companies fail to pay.[52] Yet migrant workers remain vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. The temporary minimum wage of QR750 ($206) per month is often too low to ensure those receiving it have “a decent https://www.hrw.org/report/2020/08/24/how-can-we-work-without-wages/salary-abuses-facing-migrant-workers-ahead-qatars 19/62