The Implementing Regulations of the Qatari Labor Law No.14 for the year 2004 have entered into force January 6, 2005, Al-Watan Newspaper reported.
The new Labor Law, issued May 19, 2004 in Qatar, has repealed and replaced the previous Labor Law No. 3 for the year 1962 and its amendments. The Law covers, for example, child labor, women labor, working hours and overtime pay.
The law establishes an eight-hour-work-day with a maximum of forty-eight-hour-week, except in the month of Ramadan, which would be a six-hour-work-day and a maximum of thirty-six –hour-week.
Chapter nine of the new law has specifically and exclusively stated regulations that deal with employment of women. According to Article 93, the same salary must be paid for men and women when they do the same job. In other words, the new Labor Law closes the pay gap between men and women and introduces the Fair Pay Principles.
Article 96 of the Law is devoted to pregnant women. It stipulates that women, who have been working for one full year, shall have the right to obtain a fully paid maternity leave for a period of fifty days, provided that the period following the birth shall be at least 35 days.
Article 98 specifies that the employer shall not have the right to terminate an employment contract solely because of the maternity leave or marriage. In addition, the employer shall not terminate an employment contract during pregnancy.