"Is Qatar planning a u-turn on reforms?," 4 Mar 2021

Qatar’s efforts to reform laws on workers’ rights could be facing a major setback...

The first signs that Qatar could be pressured to backtrack on its reforms came in August 2020, after Qatar became the first country in the region to allow migrant workers who fulfilled certain conditions to change jobs without their employer’s permission.

These changes did not sit well with some businesses, which argued that the reforms stripped employers of their rights...

the Minister of Labour briefed the [Shura] council about these new changes. He  explained that “the transfer of sponsorship has rules, controls, and procedures that will preserve the rights of all parties” and that “the number of workers who requested a transfer is few and that those whose requests were approved are smaller.” The minister added that changing jobs is still “subject to approval or rejection after communicating with the concerned parties.”

These were the early worrying signs of a potential shift, shedding doubt on Qatar’s professed commitment to its reform agenda...

While forward-thinking companies will realise that workers’ rights and enhanced job mobility can be good for business, others will fight to keep their privileges intact