Labour Ministry upgrades employment contract authentication e-service

The Ministry of Labour has announced upgrading the employment contract authentication e-service, whereby contracts are now checked automatically within minutes after completing the contract authentication request. The new automated contract auditing service includes all work contracts, with the exception of work contracts for specialized professions that require auditing of professional certificates. The process of electronic auditing contract service is subject to the criteria specified in the Labor Law and all ministerial decisions regulating the authentication of work contracts, as the new service will expedite the process, in addition to ensuring that contracts conform to all specified standards and are conducted in an electronic manner. This new service comes as part of MOL efforts to develop and expedite the procedures for authentications, stemming from its policy for developing smart services, upgrading the system of electronic services in the labor sector, and contributing to facilitating and speeding up the delivery of services provided to its clients. Director of the Labor Relations Department Abdullah Al Dosari, underlined that the new service will enable companies to benefit from the automated contract auditing and authentication service directly and quickly by submitting the application electronically, on all days of the week, provided that it complies with the criteria specified in accordance with the law, pointing out that the process of contract authentication and auditing is done at the same time as the application is submitted in a prompt manner. Al Dosari noted that the electronic certification service in an integrated manner for the work contract has been able, since its launch in June 2020, to authenticate nearly 900,000 contracts electronically without the need to review government service centers, pointing out that the electronic contract authentication service contributed to reducing the time for authentication remarkably. He explained that the process of automatically auditing contracts will be very accurate so that no part of the contract will be discarded or skipped, noting that the goal of those services is to speed up and facilitate the implementation of transactions for the public. Al-Dosari said that in order to benefit from the electronic contract authentication service, it is required that the workers data in the contract must bear supporting evidence either the visa number when authenticating the contract for the first-time expatriate, and indicative of the workers personal number when authenticating contracts for the resident, noting that establishment official bears full responsibility for the validity of the recorded data and signatures on the contract is through mandatory declaration within the digital service, and the attachments required for the service must include the contract version signed by both parties, in addition to the extra attachments that the system determines according to the type of contract. The Ministry of Labor seeks to launch a comprehensive electronic system for all the services it provides during the forthcoming period, especially for companies that are committed to the provisions of the law. It is noteworthy that in order to complete the contract authentication service, the company must have a smart card to verify the identity of the establishment official to access the service through the National Authentication System (NAS), a valid bank payment card to pay the fees through the payment gateway linking with Hukoomi website, complete data registration of the contract for the two parties to the relationship including the worker, the employer, and the copy of the contract extracted from the system is printed in the Arabic language and the workers language and signed by the two parties to the contractual relationship. After that, the contract shall be re-uploaded provided that it should be the signed copy with the additional attachments. The contract is checked automatically for non-specialist professions. After matching the contract, the establishment official pays the fees through the electronic payment gateway, after the payment is completed, digitally certified copies of the contract are extracted. It is worth noting that the Ministry of Labor currently provides several electronic services, including fast-tracking of labor visas, updating facility data, authenticating work contracts, and other electronic services.