Minister highlight disabled employees’ rights

Manama : The disabled employees and those taking care of a disabled person must be given two hours of paid break during their duty hours, Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan said.

The minister’s suggestion cropped up during his meeting with MP Abdulrahman Buali on the conditions of disabled employees in Bahrain.

In the meeting, Humaidan insisted on implementing Article 5 of Law 59 of 2014 regarding caring, rehabilitating and employing people with disabilities.

The article stipulates that “employees with disabilities and first degree relatives who take care of a disabled person should be given two hours of paid leave everyday in accordance with conditions and regulations issued by the concerned minister”.

This followed the recent fuss created by several MPs and local Arabic dailies on the status of disabled employees in public and private sector establishments.

Some reports claimed that disabled employees were deprived of many of their legal and constitutional rights. They also alleged that some of them were forced to work overtime, without being granted their wages. 

The case was broached by Buali, who threatened to utilise his parliamentary power to hold accountable any establishments that were not fair with their disabled employees.

However, in response to these reports, the minister yesterday said: “The ministry is now completing the necessary formalities to ensure that the law is implemented on all establishments in the Kingdom, following the directives of the Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.”

He added that the livelihoods of citizens is the government’s priority. The minister also insisted on the importance of cooperation between the Legislative and Executive authorities in this regard.