“I think the court has only directed ITCC to pay us for three months of delayed salaries instead of a
year’s worth,” one employee said. “No one has asked us when we were last paid.”
Out of the group of 400 workers facing delayed wages, 19 resigned in June 2019 after six months of
non-payment of wages. For over a year, these 19 workers waited for their pending monthly wages, endof-service benefits, and tickets to home countries. They began living and sleeping in the ITCC office
as a form of protest. Officials from Qatar’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) visited the
office on October 10, 2020 the workers told Human Rights Watch.
“During the NHRC visit, the company was embarrassed by us former employees sleeping in the office,
so on October 12, 2020, the company said they would pay 30 percent of our outstanding dues if we
leave the office,” said one former ITCC employee sleeping in the office. “We had no choice but to
agree. The contract they made us sign says we have received 100 per cent of the payment, but verbally
they said they will only pay 30 percent.” These 19 workers were paid 30 percent of their wages due in
early November.
The Government Communications Office stated that although “ITCC is currently banned from
operating in Qatar, it remains eligible for the loan program to provide salaries to its employees during
the time frame requested in its application.” ITCC employees are worried about their lack of
representation in these decisions.
The Communications Office said that ITCC has been registered to secure a loan through the Qatar
Development Bank (QDB), which would be directly deposited in employees’ bank accounts “within
the coming weeks.” Hundreds of employees have yet to be paid, though. Some employees who have
access to the company’s records said that they have been hearing promises of a loan from the bank
since March, and they cannot see any documentation to prove that ITCC has been registered for a
bank loan.
The Communications Office also said that “employees seeking to change jobs while their Qatar ID
card is expired are free to do so without bearing any of the financial cost”. However, a former ITCC
employee said that ITCC did not renew his ID card and his new employer is demanding that he pay a
2,400 Qatari Riyal (US$ 659) fine for his expired ID card before he can start working for them.
Lalibela Cleaning & Services
Eight employees at Lalibela Cleaning & Services have also told Human Rights Watch that they have
not received monthly wages since June. In lieu of wages, the company provides them with 150 Qatari
riyals ($41) for food and water in an irregular and arbitrary manner. Moreover, Lalibela employees said
they had not received Qatar identity cards, health cards, or ATM cards, which employers are required
to provide, though they had been working for the company since at least 2019. The employees also
said that, when paid, they are only paid for eight hours of work a day, even though they work at least
10. “I have a young son at home, he is starving because I am unable to send him money,” said one
Lalibela employee from Kenya.