Employer jailed for forging ‘employee’s work contract’

The Lower Criminal Court has sentenced an owner of a desalination company to six months behind bars for forging an employee’s contract. The defendant is said to have registered the employee with the Labour Market Regulatory Authority (LMRA) using a contract, which mentioned a salary quite lower than the actual salary the employee was drawing from the company.

The employee discovered the misconduct of his employer after he went to the LMRA and extracted a copy of his contract, only to find out that it was mentioned that he was earning BD50 monthly only, although he was drawing a salary of BD200 as written in the agreed contract.

It was later identified that the owner of the company forged the contract in an effort to avoid paying a huge amount of indemnity in the event the employee served for many years, according to Prosecutors. The owner of the company later accused his clearance employee of committing this crime, stating that he was one who forged the document and uploaded the submitted contract with the LMRA.

He was, however, charged in connection with forging the contract. The Lower Criminal Court suspended implementing the sentence for BD50 bail, pending the outcome of his appeal.