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No decision on companies holding passports

A senior source at the ministry told Khaleej Times that the decision should be based on legal grounds before being taken into consideration, the source said.

"As such a decision involves legal aspects, the Interior Ministry deems it necessary to refer the subject of banning the retention of passports by employers to further study by the experts of law and police with the aim of detecting the negative and positive aspects before taking the decision, which is crucial and important," the source explained.

The issue of retention of passports has of late sparked much debate and resulted in problems for many employees.

The lack of a law banning such practice encourages many employers to retain passports of their staff, which on many occasions result in major problems for employees, especially in cases of emergency such as the need to travel back home for family affairs such as the demise of close relatives or major problems that require personal presence of the holder of the passport.

However, employers claim that the idea of retaining staff passports was to prevent any crime such as running away with company cash or committing a crime and fleeing the country immediately.

Labour Ministry officials earlier said companies have the right to retain passports of employees whose jobs involves handing of big amounts of cash or having other company assets in their possession. The holding passports of employees should be based on acceptable legal grounds, therefore a decision to abolish the same requires in-depth study and review, the source held.

The source, however, denied that the ministry had chalked out a plan or campaign to curb retaining the employees' passports by their employers. He said the ministry would discuss the issue and come out with a decision that complies with the law.

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