By Soman Baby

EMPLOYERS in Bahrain have so far reported more than 10,000 runaway workers to the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA), it was revealed yesterday .

Out of them, the LMRA has registered 4,495 as genuine cases and the rest are pending, said LMRA e-services and public relations manager Waheed Al Balushi.

“Once the complaint is reported, we wait for a month before they are officially registered,” he told the GDN.

“This is to give a chance to employees to justify their stand if the cases are false.

“If the employees’ mobile numbers are available with us, they will be alerted through an SMS.”

Such employees can visit the enforcement department with the necessary documents, if they have them, to prove that they are runaways, said Mr Al Balushi.

“Those employees who are absent from work for various reasons are advised to go to the expat portal at the LMRA website – and study their status,” he said.

“By feeding in their CPR numbers and the expiry dates of their passports at the website’s e-services section, they can confirm their legal status.

“We also advise people who have filed cases against their employers to visit the website to make sure that they are not registered as runaways.”

Employers should register all runaway cases with LMRA to avoid fees and legal liability, said Mr Al Balushi.

“Employers who have already reported runaway cases to the Labour Ministry should take a copy of the report to the LMRA, to ensure that its database is accurate,” he added.

Once a case is registered, the runaway will be taken off the list of expatriate workers for whom employers must pay the LMRA a monthly fee of BD10 each.

“However, the notification to LMRA shall not relieve employers from their obligations to meet the expenses of workers’ repatriation to the destinations specified in the employment contract, or to their native place,” he said.