Employment and Labour Standards Administration (ELSA) 

Within the ELSA division, we set and administers employment standards, providing employers and employees with tailored legal advice and consultancies on all kinds of employment matters, specifically designed on the actual situations our clients deal with at any given moment.
Our 360 degree support includes a variety of customised services, free of charge, including:

• Attestation of employment agreements
• Review of employment-related documents
• Review of HR policies and employment agreements
• Legal advice on employment matters
• Interpretations and guidance
• Newsletters, forms and templates
• Workshops and training sessions on technical skills related to employment and management of human resources

By providing employers and employees with the necessary tools to comply with our regulatory framework, we increase knowledge of the QFC Employment Regulations, promote their understanding, avoid misinterpretations and facilitate compliance. Our ultimate goal is to prevent workplace disputes and avoid the significant costs and disruptions that such conflicts may cause.
Knowledge and understanding of the obligations under the Employment Regulations help preventing disputes and can also enable a fair and quick resolution of workplace conflicts before they escalate into a major dispute.

 

Compliance Monitoring and Labour Inspection

Prevention of disputes includes also an observatory function on how the legislation is applied, that we ensure through monitoring activities aiming to a timely detection of contraventions and the adoption of pro-active and reactive countermeasures to rectify non-compliance issues.

The overall objectives of the compliance monitoring are the following:

• Assessment of the level of compliance with applicable legislation
• Identification of non-compliance issues
• Root-causes analysis
• Definition of corrective actions to fix the non-compliance issue including enforcement, if needed
• Support of the enforcement process through evidence collection
• Monitoring of compliance with enforcement orders
• Definition of preventive actions to obviate future contraventions

 

Technical Education and Skills Development

To contribute to the achievement of the Qatar National Vision 2030, in particular the human development pillar, and aware of the importance of upgrading soft skills in line with the needs of a constantly changing labour market, we also provide our clients with customised:

• Workshops and training on various aspect of organisational development such as engagement and motivation of employees, integrity and trust, job crafting, workspace design
• Seminars and trainings on management of conflict and conciliation skills
• Workshops and trainings on demand on employment-related topics

 

Labour Market Information System (LMIS)

The LMIS is an integrated system comprising procedures to coordinate collection, processing, storage, retrieval and analysis of information and data related to the QFC workforce. It is a vital element of the ESO and the QFC strategy that provides crucial inputs on labour market trends and identifies requirements for new policies to satisfy the changing needs of a constantly evolving labour market.

A key data source of LMIS is the collection of employees’ data through the QFC Client Portal, which entails the following process:

• Collection and compilation of data and information - The process requires an on-going real time submission of the employees list and updates that all employers submit every time a new employee is hired or an existing employment relationship is terminated.
• Repository of information - This phase entails verification of the collected data and restricted storage accessible only by ESO Officers.
• Data analysis - This phase entails the analysis of the collected data, the evaluation of outcomes and issuance of reports.
• Institutional arrangement - The ESO provides the QFC Authority and its departments information, data and reports together with recommendations related to review or elaboration of policies, systems and processes, to foster flexibility, business innovation and employment creation.

 

Dispute Resolution Commission for Conciliation and Adjudication (CCA)

Although prevention of conflicts is one of the main strategic objectives of the ESO, disputes are inevitable and when they arise, the ESO offers dispute resolution services including conciliation and adjudication.

Conciliation is a process to resolve conflicts and disagreements between employers and employees without the need of legal representation.

It is a voluntary process aiming at settling the matter amicably and the outcome is decided by both the parties through the intervention of a professional conciliator, whose role is to facilitate communication between the disputing parties.

The process involves a series of individual and joint meetings during which the conciliator hears the view of each party and assists them to explore options to resolve their differences.

All information received during the course of conciliation is treated as confidential and will not be divulged to any other party unless expressly authorised.

During the conciliation, employers and employees have the full control of the process and the conciliator has no power to impose an outcome on them. Settlement of a dispute is an outcome that the parties themselves voluntarily decide. The conciliator, however, assists the parties to see the matter from a different perspective and explore alternative solutions to settle.

If the conciliation fails, the case is referred to adjudication and the ESO, after investigation of the complaint and through a fair process where both parties are given the opportunity to be heard and state their case, adjudicates the dispute issuing a determination which is binding on the parties. The ESO determinations can be appealed before the QFC Regulatory Tribunal at the QICDRC within 60 days from the date in which they are notified to the parties.