"How companies circumvent government-backed Wage Protection System to cheat workers", 20 October 2018

... [T]here are still many companies that are short-changing workers by hoodwinking the government-backed Wages Protection System (WPS)... Some estimates indicate that nearly 50 per cent of all small private construction and transport companies circumvent the system to pay workers nearly 40 per cent less than what’s rightfully due. The... WPS is an electronic salary transfer process that allows companies and institutions to pay wages via registered agents such as banks, exchange houses and financial institutions, using their WPS code. As soon as a registered agent receives an employee’s salary transfer instruction, it beams an electronic notification to the Wages Protection System, which then sends the worker’s salary file to the agent for payment. Each employee is issued an electronic card to withdraw his salary from the agent’s cash dispensing machine. After being made mandatory in 2017, WPS now covers more than 321,000 institutions, accounting for around 94.7 per cent of private sector firms. However, many firms have found a way to cheat the system. To meet government requirements, these companies transfer the agreed upon wages on the specified date into the worker’s account, but retain ATM cards. On paper, the workers are getting full wages on time, but in effect they get anywhere between 35-40 per cent less and that too weeks after pay day,” said a lawyer, who specialises in labour related cases. Several blue-collar workers interviewed by Gulf News said their ATM cards remain with their employers...