If you’re an expatriate working in the Gulf states then it will probably mean the end of service payout that is paid to all expats in lieu of a national pension scheme  for citizen employees.

According to Bahraini Labour  Law Chapter 14, article 111:

Article 111

In respect of categories of workers to whom the provisions of the Social Insurance Law are not yet applicable, the employer concerned shall pay to such worker, upon termination of employment, a leaving indemnity for the period of his employment calculated on the basis of fifteen days’ wages for each year of the first three years of service and of one month’s wages for each year of service thereafter. Such worker shall be entitled to payment of leaving indemnity upon a quantum meruit in proportion to the period of his service completed within a year.

Upon termination of a contract of employment by such worker, he shall be entitled to the payment of one third of the leaving indemnity if the period of his service is not less than three consecutive years and not more than five years; and he shall be entitled to payment of the full leaving indemnity if he resigns after the completion of five years of service, provided that such termination of a contract of service by the worker is not used by the worker as a means to avoid dismissal from employment in accordance with the provisions of Article 113 and provided also, that he shall notify the employer concerned of his intention of leave his employment in accordance with the provisions of Article 107 of this Law; the worker may, in lieu of such notice, pay to the employer an amount equivalent of the wages payable for the required period of notice.

Most of the time, the employee receives their gratuity, wires it home and moves onto their next appointment.  It is the law that employers abide by the gratuity scheme, all GCC countries have similar schemes for their expatriate workers.

Take a look at Article 113, pretty straight forward, right?

Article 113

An employer shall not dismiss a worker without payment of indemnity allowance, notice or compensation except in the following instances:

1. if the worker has assumed a false identity or submitted false certificates or testimonials;

2. if the worker has committed any act which caused serious material damage to the employer, provided that such employer shall report the matter to the competent authorities within 24 hours of his knowledge of the occurrence;

3. if the worker, despite a written warning, fails to comply with written instructions which are required to the observed for the safety of workers and the establishment, provided that such instructions are posted up in a prominent place;

4. if the worker absents himself without reasonable cause for more than twenty days in one year or for more than ten consecutive days, provided that such dismissal shall be preceded by warning in writing by the employer to the worker after an absence of ten days in the former instance and an absence of five days in the latter instance;

5. if the worker fails to perform his essential duties under the contract of employment;

6. if the worker discloses the secrets of the establishment by which he is employed;

7. if the worker has been finally sentenced for a crime or a misdemeanour involving dishonour, dishonesty or immorality;

8. if the worker is found during the hours of work to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs; or if he has committed an immoral act at the place of work;

9. if the worker assaults his employer or his responsible representative or commits a serious assault upon any of his supervisors of work during the course of employment or for reasons connected therewith.

Of course, the interpretation of these clauses is what matters. In the west we have employment tribunals where lawyers can thrash these things out. In Bahrain, no such recourse for expatriates.

Since the crisis in Bahrain started in February 2011 we have seen the regime bend the law to their own advantage. For example, rather than stopping robberies and bringing the perpertrators to justice, the Bahrain police actually assist with such robberies. The regime is above its own laws:

Imagine then if you are an expat who resigns from their job and speaks out against the regime. You don’t need to be a lawyer to see how the above clauses can be twisted as to deny the expat their end of service benefits. For some, this can amount to thousands of pounds, money which many can’t afford to lose. With people in prison without fair and proper trials, the regime may stop at arresting expatriate detractors but can use money as a sanction instead. Follow through with the sanction for a few people and the rest will fall into line, right?

For some, its not just simply an end of service gratuity at risk. Money may be tied up in property, in business.  You may have debts. Fall out with your pro-regime business partner or boss and this could be you. I wonder how many people are scared of speaking out because they owe money in the country?

If speaking out can land you penniless then its quite possible that by doing the opposite can line your pockets…

Reblogged from Dr Mike Diboll:

Reblogged from Dr Mike Diboll:

Mike managed to blog this before I did so I'm just going to do a repost instead

We’ve just completed our first year back in the UK. From the moment that Gulf Air flight landed its been a rollercoaster ride for us.

THE POSITIVES:

1. Escaping a dangerous situation, a situation where our support for the Bahrain people was not appreciated by those who employed us. Escaping a social environment where many friends did not share our views and were becoming hostile to us.

2. Repatriation to a country where we have rights as citizens has its obvious plus points. Suddenly we were free to speak without fear of retaliation (or so we thought, see ‘NEGATIVES’ list)

3. Being reunited with family and friends and knowing that there will be no sad goodbyes at the airport again.

4. Being around for elderly parents, this year has been difficult for them health wise and I wouldve worried myself sick being in Bahrain and not being able to help.

5. Its been great for our teenage son. Living in the UK has given him independence he didn’t have in Bahrain.

6. Its been great for our toddler daughter. She loves the UK experience and I don’t know if she would appreciate the heat of Bahrain as the weather gets hotter there.

7. Not having much money isn’t the end of the world in the UK unlike it was in Bahrain. Getting low on cash in Bahrain, especially in the summer meant being cooped up inside. In the UK there are lots of wonderful things you can do on a tight budget. The recession has meant that more and more people are finding ways of spending their leisure time without spending their cash. We are blessed to be living in one of the most beautiful parts of England as well as living very close to the most vibrant seaside resort in the country.

8.The food. I can finally eat British food without feeling ripped off, like I did in Alosra. However, my desire for a Shisha in a local cafe the other day was dampened when seeing the 10 pound price tag. The same goes for anything Arabic. Its a lot more expensive here.

9. The driving. I don’t feel like we’re all taking our lives into our own hands when I get in the car like I did in Bahrain.

10. The TV. Its true, British telly is good.

THE NEGATIVES

1. Having to suddenly leave a job has its drawbacks, especially when you don’t receive the compensation you’re owed and your employer is more likely to write you an arrest warrant than a reference.

2. Coming back to the UK with now job set up at our time of life when unemployment is the highest its been in ages.

3. Watching Bahrain fall apart from a distance of 3000 miles away and not being able to do much about it.

4. The daily feed of bad news coming out of Bahrain. The images and the stories behind them.

5. Trying to break into things as outsiders. Long established networks and cliques, busy people, people that don’t quite understand where you’re coming from all. Extremely frustrating and rarely understood by people who are already safely ‘inside’

6. Not living in London. We left the over priced hellhole ten years ago and don’t want to go back. However, it seems that if you’re not there, you don’t exist.

8. Speaking out against injustice can have negative effects even if you live in the UK. This is even worse during an recession when moral compromises are being made behind the scenes perhaps even in your field of profession.

9. The general shock the long term expats have of trying to resettle in their home country.

10. Mourning the loss of our lives in Bahrain. It was a sudden death too with no preparation.

However, what can we do but remain steadfast. Every day that is difficult for us reminds us of our friends in Bahrain. They remain ‘sumood’ and so can we.

It was very hit and miss if we were even going to be on that flight because we spent the entire summer chasing on the University of Bahrain for ticket details. Finally, much too close for comfort, the details were sent of of our Gulf Air Heathrow to Manama flights. Already we had doubts in our mind about this University, they couldn’t even organise tickets in a timely manner, term had already officially started and we were still on UK soil!

We’d all ready visited Bahrain in March as tourists to have a look round and find a school for our son (another blog post, another time. Its seems irrelevant now) We both fell in love with the soul of Bahrain, having lived in soul-less Al Ain for five years, Bahrain felt vibrant, full of culture, its people welcoming and proud.

September 2007: We weren’t the only ones waiting at immigration for the UOB representative to arrive. It wasn’t looking good.

People from other flights that had landed before us, looking weary and jet lagged, holding similar letters to ours. New colleagues.

Eventually Mr UOB fixer did arrive and after much fuss which only those familiar with Middle Eastern bureaucracy will be familiar with, we left the airport. With no hotel booked, the mini bus dropped us off one by one. First of all, the people who had been allocated flats in Manama. We were the last to leave that bus, our first nights would be spent with friends already living in Jannusen while we waited for our villa in Saar to be readied. I had found it back in March and it would be ready for us to move in a weeks time.

His first week in his new job, Mike began to learn that the rumour that Bahraini students are some of the brightest and most enthusiastic in the GCC was true. Unfortunately, the other rumour that the national university was one of the most badly run was also true. Not long after accepting the job we had been told that money seemed to never reach ‘chalkface’. Some said it was because UOB was seen as a national shame by Hamad and that he didn’t want to pour money into a failing institution. Others said money was being poured into in but it seemed to disappear before reaching students and faculty.

After that first week it turned out that all new faculty who had arrived ‘late’ on those flights were to be penalised by losing a weeks salary. Never mind the fact that the University itself had booked people on these flights despite many e mails and phone calls chasing them up. After much complaining from the new faculty the decision was reversed and everyone got a full months pay. Not a good start though, and a real harbinger for things to come!

Back to March 21 2011. We were leaving the villa that had been our home for nearly four years. Unsure if we were to return and watching events unfold so rapidly we packed our most precious possessions and secured the house. I hugged our lovely next door neighbours and told them in my broken Arabic that I was sorry to see what was happening, that their king was a bad man and one day they would have freedom.

One of those taxis that look like London cabs arrived and we squeezed ourselves and luggage into it. The roads were empty, it was early morning. The drive to the airport was quicker than expected and we arrived very early.

We wanted to clear immigration as soon as possible as this was our worry. Unlike other expats who were leaving to get a holiday from all the chaos, we were leaving for our own safety. Mike had witnessed things that the regime did not want expats to see. He’d also come down on the side of his students, in a very subtle way, he was not as outspoken as he is now but enough that could get us in trouble. I was worried that we had been travel banned because the regime would know that once we were out of Bahrain we would be free to say what we wanted. But all of BTC faculty had been given the go ahead to leave Bahrain for a holiday until the University re-opened, something they tried to deny at a later date. We werent leaving for a holiday though, we were leaving because we felt under threat. Mike had heard through friends that we would be targetted somehow. The UK Foreign Office’s status update that all non essential UK citizens should leave Bahrain as soon as possible also gave us good reason to leave at that point.

We did clear immigration. Those tense moments as they entered our passport details in the computer seemed to last forever. We sat for a while just relieved to be air-side. That’s when Mike spotted someone from the Polytechnic. He wasn’t sure if he would be back, skeptical about the future of the Crown Prince’s education project. “The Crown Prince has been marginalised now” were his words. He was right and I don’t know if he did return to the Polytechnic or not.

We had a three hour wait at the airport before our flight left. It was full, they were rechecking passports at the plane door itself, having already been through two checks already from air-side. When the plane took to the air, you could feel the relief inside the cabin. Watching Manama shrink below us, I know at that point we would probably not be back for a long while.

We touched down later than afternoon at Heathrow. Usually they ask what flight you were on when you walk through immigration. This time they didn’t bother, I really wanted to tell them. As I walked into the terminal building, I was just relieved to be home. Or was I? What was ‘home’?. Yes, I had a British passport in my hand but the people around me seemed foreign. At that moment a new feeling of fear crept over me. No longer were we in danger in Bahrain but here we were, strangers in our own land looking at hundreds of people milling around Heathrow airport, many of them not giving a fig about Bahrain, Bahrainis…where is it anyway???

To be Continued.

Reblogged from Dr Mike Diboll:

A vital aspect of the uprisings in the Arabic-speaking world is the GENERATIONAL aspect, the fact that the globally connected younger generation want and deserve so much better than the mediocrity of the corrupt and incompetent gerontocracy that’s typified by Bahrain’s current Prime Minister, 41 years continuously in unelected office since Britain allowed Bahrain to be “independent” in 1971. The young people of Bahrain, the GCC and the entire MENA region deserve so much better.

Read more… 160 more words

Reblogged from Dr Mike Diboll:

I am talking to Bahrainis, now expats in the UK about their experiences. Why they left Bahrain, how they find life in the UK and what it is like to watch Bahrain from a distance of 3000 odd miles away. Then there are expats in Bahrain, watching it all happen right in front of them. How do they feel? That’s where I need my pro gov expat voice to come in.

I decided that I could never make a programme simply about the events in Bahrain since February 2011. I’ve been in the UK most of the time since then and while I managed to grab those interviews before I left, I needed to make the programme UK focussed seeing as I am based here now and there’s no chance of me being able to get into Bahrain in the near future.

So I wait and hope. If any expat with pro government views would like to be interviewd over Skype, please drop me a line with your views. I’m not willing to talk to anyone who wants to make this a personal issue about myself and my husband though.

Reblogged from Dr Mike Diboll:

• 

Below is a doctor’s report on my mental health condition last year. If I suffered this through what I experienced, what must the mental health of the rest of Bahrain be like, those who have suffered worse for longer?

Yesterday I posted the University of Bahrain’s 22nd June 2011 letter to me, rejecting my resignation letter of the previous May, arguing that I was in breech of contract due to my allegedly “political” and “sectarian” Internet activity, and unauthorized absence.

Read more… 258 more words

A very honest and brave post by my husband