Investors and proprietors of recruitment offices have blamed the Ministry of Labor for the rise in the number of illegal brokers, saying that some of the rules are actually counterproductive and promoting black market.
The ministry has put a ceiling on the maximum cost of recruitment from Bangladesh and Niger, besides fixing the period of recruitment at 60 days and fines in case of delay.
Turki Al-Araini, an investor, told local media that the recent decisions of the ministry have forced some offices to stop receiving new applications until they clear earlier ones.
He said majority of recruitment offices have officially objected to these decisions and notified the ministry. “They also hired a lawyer to move court against the ministry. The decisions are impractical and against the interest of citizens and recruitments offices, and are encouraging black market.”
Nasir Al-Shatawi, another investor, said: “Our efforts to communicate with the ministry proved futile. We also appointed a spokesman and gave him the authority to negotiate and defend the rights of recruitment offices.”
He said the ministry threatens recruitment offices with deductions from their bank guarantee and suspension of their licenses. “Inspection committees visited recruitment offices and pulled them up over trivial matters such as the absence of the owner or not working according to the new contract,” he said.