Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini House of Representatives approved on March 19, 2019, a bill referred by the government as a matter of urgency. It includes amendments to the law on unemployment insurance. Among the amendments are the transfer of funds from the Unemployment Fund to finance the voluntary retirement program, and the sum amounts to 230 million dinars.

The new amendments state increasing the unemployment benefit for university graduates to 200 BD and for non-university students 150 BD, and increasing the period of unemployment benefits to 9 months.

The bill also allows the government to withdraw part of the surplus of the fund to finance the voluntary retirement program, as the Parliament rejected the proposal of MP Ibrahim Al-Nafaie to drop the article that permits this. A total of 23 MPs voted against the proposal which calls for the deletion of the legal provision authorizing the government to transfer part of the surplus to the voluntary retirement program.

Only 13 MPs voted in favor of Al-Nafaie's proposal: Abdullah Al-Dosari, Mohammed Bouhamoud, Youssef Al-Thawadi, Issa Al-Qadi, Mohammed Al-Abbasi, Sayed Falah Hashim, Khalid Bu'onq, Ammar Abbas, Kulthom Al-Hayki, Mamdouh Al-Saleh, Basim Al-Maliki and Abdi-Nabi Salman.

The bill raises the maximum amount of compensation for arbitrary dismissal from 500 to 1,000 dinars. The Parliament decided to refer the bill as a matter of urgency to the Shura Council.

Arabic Version