According to the Public Authority for Manpower (PAM), employers are now given the authority to terminate their employees’ work permits if the latter have been found to have been imprisoned based on a final judicial ruling, or have their residence permits revoked after escaping any notice to be called to court based on the account of criminal activities.
For the legal process to take place, the employers are required to provide a request to revoke an expat’s work permit and have them deported back to their home country. Expenses are to be shouldered by the employers themselves.
Employers Now Hold the Right to Cancel Work Permits of Criminal Employees
In certain situations where an expatriate employee decides to quit his/her job and apply for work under a new employer, the latter shall be held responsible for shouldering the deportation expenses of his/her employee if the former employer has duly submitted a termination notice of the employee under investigation.
The authorities stress the employer’s right to automatically revoke an expat employee’s work permit if he/she has been outside the country for more than six (6) months, except when the case had been authorized by the General Directorate of Residency Affairs.
Under the new labour arrangement, an employer holds the right to revoke employees’ work as well as residency permits if they have been outside of Kuwait or under any circumstances, have been deported back to their home country, taking into consideration the duty of the employer to shoulder the prescribed fees involved in this process.
In the issue of the 800 Filipinos holed up in the domestic workers shelter, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled explained that the ministry has been working hard with all concerned agencies to have the Filipino workers in custody repatriated, if they have been found to be free of any criminal charges. Otherwise, those with pending charges shall be referred to relevant State authorities. Of note, Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled also clarified that the number of Filipinos staying in the shelter has been down to 300, where all evacuation procedures have been carefully executed together with the Philippine Embassy.
According to Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled, the Ministry of foreign Affairs is performing its role and responsibilities in handling any issue considered ‘offensive’ to Kuwait, and that they have been in constant communication with other concerned ministries, government agencies, foreign offices, as well as diplomatic missions to resolve every issue at hand.