Bahrain to Force Firms to Compensate Dismissed Employees

Bahrain’s government will force private companies to compensate dismissed employees and extend their annual and sick leaves or face fines in a bid to improve working conditions and end human trafficking.

Under the new law, workers will get for 30 days of annual leave, at least 60 days of maternity leave instead of 45, and 15 days of sick leave with full pay, the Information Affairs Authority in Manama said in a statement today. The terms of compensation for dismissed employees weren’t disclosed.

The modifications update laws issued 36 years ago, the authority said in an e-mailed statement dated yesterday. The government had “left many legislative gaps and loopholes, especially in relationship to workers’ negotiations with management and ways of settling disputes,” according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Wael Mahdi in Manama at wmahdi@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net