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Firms warned against ‘extortion’ of labourers

ABU DHABI — Labour authorities here have warned private companies of stringent action against extortion of money from labourers and blackmail.

“Extortion is a flagrant violation of labour laws and regulations. Strict measures will be taken against companies that force employees to illegally pay expenses of visa and sign documents to deprive them of their legal entitlements,” a source in the Labour Ministry told Khaleej Times yesterday.

He threatened the violating companies with strict penalties, starting from warning and blacklisting the facility up to permanently stopping all transactions with such companies. The official’s comment came in the wake of a complaint lodged by 22 Egyptian labourers in January against Al Mansouri Contracting Company over unpaid dues. They also complained that they were forced to pay electricity and water tariff.

“The labourers claimed that the company forced them to sign a receipt stating that they owed it an amount equivalent to three months’ salary,” said the source.

They complained that the company also used to deduct Dh150 from each labourer for electricity and water charges, added the source.

“We summoned the sponsor in a bid to settle the case amicably. He agreed to pay the workers their late dues starting from tomorrow in accordance with a specific schedule.”

However, he said, the sponsor said the extortion accusation of the labourers was false and that the company had not forced them to sign the receipt.

The company said it will address the ministry today in writing to defend itself against the extortion accusations.

“Having unanimously claimed that they were compelled to sign the papers and incur the debts is an evidence that they were blackmailed,” noted the source.

However, he said, the ministry will further probe the case to protect labourers’ rights and resolve the dispute peacefully.

If the workers’ claim was right, the ministry will ask the company to pay them what has been deducted from their salary, said the source.

He said an initial warning will be given to the company and if the incident recurs the facility will be blacklisted and finally a decision to stop dealing with the violating firms will be issued.

The source noted that extortion of labourers usually occurs with labourers recruited form Arab countries due to the fact that these countries lack recruiting offices.