I would like to ask the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) and the Labour Ministry for their advice on the following matter. I am an expatriate worker and I have resigned from my current employer. According to the contract, they are liable to deduct the visa, CPR and air ticket expenditure from me for employment in Bahrain.
This expenditure, according to my knowledge through some very reliable sources, is BD250 to BD300, since I did not come through any recruitment consultant. Nevertheless, the management is claiming BD600-BD700.
Kindly advise me on how to present the authentic expenditure list to my employer, so that they will only deduct that, while settling the account.
Anonymous expatriate
An LMRA spokesman said: “Our opinion will be as good as the information provided by the reader. Each case is judged on its own merit and we haven’t heard from the other party (the employer), but we will try and advise the reader according to the current laws.
“According to Act No (19) of (2006) with regard to the regulation of the labour market: It is illegal for an employer to charge the employee any work permit/work visa-related expenses (this definitely is the employer’s responsibility). The employer is also responsible for the flight ticket home (Articles 23, 27 and 36 of the act.) You can view and download it from this link http://www.lmra. bh/en/content.php?id=14
“Employees should report such legal violations (with supporting documents as evidence) to the LMRA, as well as lodge a formal complaint at the Labour Ministry, if employers are forcing them to pay for their work permit/work visa and related expenses, then inform LMRA of the Labour Ministry’s case number.
“Although the employer is fully responsible for the visa and travel expenses, this does not mean that he cannot claim other damages at the ministry, or at the court of law, against the employee (if he wishes to do so) in case the employee did not fulfil his contract terms, resulting in financial losses to the employer.
“Such losses or other expenses (other than for the visa and ticket) must be proven by documents in a registered complaint at the ministry or at the court of law against the employee. Only they can decide who is to pay who and how much is the payment going to be (this should not be automatically or arbitrarily deducted from the employee’s dues, as the employer may wish to do so!)
“We would like to inform the reader that we have published most of the frequently asked question on our website: www.lmra.bh.”