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Ireland – Employees in Qatar say their rights are being restricted

20 October 2014

Irish and British workers employed by an Irish company in Qatar have claimed that their freedom to leave the country is being restricted because of their employer's policies, reports The Irish Times

The employees said that their employer; Sepam Group, an international engineering procurement  and project management company, will not give them the requisite non-objection certificates (NOCs) that migrant workers need under Qatari law if they want to work for other companies in the country.

A number of Irish and British construction and engineering professionals, who were working for Sepam but are currently unemployed, said they had job offers in Qatar but could not accept them, as Sepam would not supply them with the NOCs.

The company declined to comment, other than to state: "Sepam confirms that the company complies with all labour and other pertinent regulations and operates to industry norms in each market where it has a presence. Any queries in relation to the employment conditions in Qatar should be sent to the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs."

A number of sources, who do not want to be identified, told The Irish Times the difficulties they are encountering. However, there is no suggestion that the company's practices in Qatar are illegal.

Another complaint is that Sepam chooses to issue workers with a single-exit visa, which means that employees must go through the company if they want to leave Qatar. A number of sources have said employees working in Qatar can be issued with multiple-exit visas or single-exit visas. They said it was Sepam's policy to issue its workers with the single-exit visas and that this meant they must ask the company to authorise their visas when they wanted to leave Qatar. As a consequence, they said, employees were not able to come and go from Qatar in the way that employees of some other companies were.

Under Qatari law, an employee who has worked in the country needs an NOC if he or she wants to move to work with a new employer. The requirement lasts for two years after the expiration of the visa issued for the first employer.