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Private sector companies will face increased scrutiny from January 2014 over compliance with new salary protection rules according to Suhail Yahya al Khasabi, the head of the ministry of manpower’s salary protection centre.

The Salary Protection System (SPS) is a national electronic platform implemented jointly by the ministry and Central Bank of Oman which requires employers to pay all staff salaries through authorised financial service providers in the Sultanate in accordance with article 53 of the Oman labour law.

The primary objective of SPS is to ensure that workers are paid on time and in accordance with contract in order to avoid disputes. The ministry receives 5,000 to 10,000 complaints from Omani and expatriate workers relating to non-payment of wages every year. The system is particularly beneficial to low-salaried and uneducated employees who are vulnerable to exploitation by employers. A further advantage of the SPS will be the availability of a real-time database on the labour force which can be used for a number of purposes such as to monitor private sector companies’ compliance with labour-related policy such as Omanisation policy and to identify the employment of illegal workers.