MoL inks pact for salaries through ATMs

As many as 2.5 million employees of some 285,000 private establishments across the country will benefit from the agreement, which will come into effect from January 1 next year.

Dr Ali Abdullah Al Kaabi, Minister of Labour, signed the agreement for the ministry, and Ghaith bin Hamil Al Ghaith, member of the Board of Directors of IFCO, signed on behalf of the company.

This was announced by Dr Al Kaabi at a Press conference here on Saturday.

IFCO is one of the implementing bodies of the Cabinet’s resolution which made it mandatory for all private companies to pay the monthly wages of their staff through ATM machines, Dr Al Kaabi said, adding that employees will also get their salaries through post offices and a number of banks, to be announced later.

Dr Al Kaabi said a number of companies had actually started implementing it, as they had signed contracts with banks where the salaries would be transferred. This, he said, would solve the problem of delay in payment of salaries to the workers.

Ghaith bin Hamil Al Fhaith, member of the Board of Directors of IFCO, said that under the agreement, the company would sign contracts with private companies to pay the salaries of their employees on a certain date every month.

IFCO would thereafter inform the ministry — through a monthly report — about the commitment of the companies to pay the salaries of their employees on time, he noted.