An open letter to the Chairman of Mowasalat, the state-owned transport company of Qatar.

Source: The People's Forum @ www.iloveqatar.net

Posted By: Qataritwin

I received this Open Letter from a friend of mine and think that it is a good gesture if I could share it with others in the People's Forum. Please feel free to comment or adfvice as appropriate.

NOTE: I learnt from my friend that the management of Mowasalat had refused to grant the 2009 performance-based bonus to this expatriate employee despite of repeated appeals. What a stingy, narrow-minded and unjust company is this? How could they retain good staff if they have this kind of unethical policy? What a shame to the state-owned transport company who can't even provide good land transport services to the Qatari communters after the departure of many experienced expatriates ....

Read Here:

An Open Letter to the Chairman & Managing Director of Mowasalat, the Transport Company of Qatar.

23 March 2010

H.E. Jassem Saif Al Sulaiti,
Chairman & Managing Director,
Mowasalat,
Doha, Qatar.

Your Excellency,

2009 PERFORMANCE BONUS PAY --- A CASE OF DISCRIMINATION AND ETHICS OF DISCRETION

Firstly, congratulations to those who have had received their 2009 Performance Bonus Payments. They all have my utmost envy…..

Secondly, I write to you today as an ex-employee of Mowasalat who was holding the post of Taxi Operations Manager prior to my resignation effective from 31 January 2010. I hope you will spend a few minutes of your precious time to understand my grievances and to use your distinguished office to resolve my predicament and attend to my complaint against the so-called discretion-based (instead of performance-based) decision of not paying my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay.

This direct and personal letter to you is prompted by my belief that, subsequent to being informed with negative replies by the Human Resource and Executive Directors, you will kindly reconsider my case and take positive steps to review the “secrete” policy and the bias decision governing the criteria on the eligibility of my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay and the related ethics of discretion. Furthermore, I have exhausted all avenues of appeal within the Mowasalat Management team. This is my last hope and another endeavour for me to trouble Your Excellency to get involved before I decide to look for justices and arbitration elsewhere….

Before I go deeper into the whole matter, I would like to share with you some of the statements made by four different personnel in their replies (via e-mails) to me:

1. Ms Cynthia Dacuycuy, Manager of Employee Welfare & Performance.

Quote: "It is as per the guideline which has been practiced. Please see below as captioned from the guideline: Leavers (resigned & terminated employees) are not eligible for bonus if information has already been cascaded to HR before the payroll month where bonus will be paid." Unquote.

2. Madam Khadiga El Hashim, Director, Human Resource Dept.

Quote: “I am attaching for you a scanned copy of your Letter of Acceptance which clearly indicates that your entitlements and benefits and the Performance Bonus Pay was not stated. If you have noticed the Employee Handbook has no caption on Performance Bonus Pay since this is a benefit that may be triggered at the discretion of the Board on the overall corporate targets. The mechanism behind the process is purely discretional and therefore the eligibility is governed by this discretion.

I just wish to emphasize again that this reward system is a benefit and not an entitlement and is used to motivate for future performance to retain employees.” Unquote.

3. Madam Khadiga El Hashim, Director, Human Resource Dept.

Quote: “It is good to hear you are well. With regard to your request, we are so unfortunate not be able to entertain as this has been the company policy with regard to Performance Bonus Pay. This has been considered as a reward for your previous performance to motivate you for improved future performance. To that understanding, it is considered a mechanism to retain employees. However if for any reason the employee leaves the company prior to the pay of such a reward, he/she lose this benefit. I hope this answers your request.” Unquote.

4. Engr. Ali Bahzad, Taxi & Limo Business Unit Director.

Quote: “We tried our best to help and assist you but as per company policy, you are not entitled for the above subject performance bonus.” Unquote.

5. Mr. Ahmed Bushrbak Al Mansoori, Executive Director.

Quote: “Referring to the mail below; please note that and as per the company policy the below request is rejected.” Unquote.

Your Excellency, as you can realise from the above, there are many contradictory statements over this issue. Nevertheless, the reality is that none of these senior staff members have ever denied about my good performances. So they are all aware that I was a good performer for the past three years. But then why repudiated my Performance Bonus Pay? Who used the discretionary criteria to determine the withholding of my 2009 Bonus Pay for Good Performance? If you may allow me to ask -- why used a discretional mechanism to determine my eligibility for the Performance Bonus Pay? Was it because of my resignation or because of my poor performance? What happens to the best business practices which the company’s business strategy department is endeavouring to promote and implement?

Your Excellency, I believe you will agree with me that corporate leaders must exert leadership qualities. Good leaders must exert fair and firm leadership for the benefit of all, irrespective of nationalities, religions and designations. I hope I am not a victim of prejudice and unwise discretion. You may want to know why and how records of my past performances were not taken into consideration for Performance-based Bonus Pay instead of basing on discretion. Was there a hidden hand behind this unwise and non-transparent discretion?

As a matter of fact, do you think that I would be so foolish to resign before I could receive my 2009 Performance Bonus if I am fully aware of the company policy with regard to Performance Bonus Pay? This so-called company policy had never been made known to people like me either in writing via a circular or published in the Employee Handbook. Even Engr. Ali Bahzad was unaware and amazed with this "secrete" policy when I presented my written grievance form to him before I left the company. Many managers in the company were also not aware of the said policy when I took the opportunity to discuss my predicament with some of them while I was going through the one-month transitional period.

If you were in my shoe, what will be your reaction, especially when you have worked diligently and scored high rating of 5 in your performance assessments for the past three years continuously?

I have lost earned wages when an anticipated performance bonus is being withheld by someone who may have acted on personal grounds, and have also violated the terms of the bonus plan because someone other than the Chairman & Managing Director made the final bonus determination. Where is transparency and integrity?

I salute Mr. Waleed Raslan, the Finance Director, for his cleverness in planning for his recent resignation. He has at least got his 2009 Performance Bonus Pay before tendering his resignation. I believe Mr. Waleed Raslan is fully aware of that “secrete” policy governing the bonus payment. He has made the right move at the right time. This proves that although the reward system (as what the HR Director has stated as per statement # 2 above) is a benefit and not an entitlement and is used to motivate for future performance to retain employees, you will be surprised to realise that some employees may still want to leave for other reasons. A company can’t simply use the Performance Bonus Pay to motivate or retain employees. There are other factors and reasons too, such as frustration, bad working conditions, poor employee welfare, discrimination, sex harassment, low wages, fed up with office politics, etc.

Frankly speaking, If I were fully aware of the said policy, I could have waited till I received my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay and then go for my annual leave, which was initially scheduled for me to depart Doha on 5th February 2010 (T&L Business Unit's Admin Centre got my leave application form duly signed by Mr. Craig and counter-signed Engr. Ali Bahzad). And you see, after completion of my annual leave, I would return to resume work and then follow-up by tendering my resignation to the company. By adopting this plan, I could surely be able to receive my end-of-service benefits plus the 2009 Performance Bonus Pay. Won't you think so? If I were to "play cunningly" or to "fool" the company, I could have adopted this strategy to resign and gain all the eligible and entitled benefits. Bearing in mind I have had received my Performance Bonus Pays for 2007 and 2008 based on my good performance assessments.

You may be curious to know why I was so stupid for not adopting this practical strategy when deciding to resign. In fact, I have initially planned to resign after the company terminated the service of Mr. Khalid Fathi, and later my desire to leave the company became stronger when I realised of Mr. Craig’s resignation. Honestly speaking, my original plan was to tender my resignation upon my return to Doha to resume duty in early March 2010 -- i.e. to act on the matter only after I have received my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay and after spending my earned annual vacation (in February 2010). However, and unfortunately, Engr. Ali Bahzad's sudden decision (done “unprofessionally” or “unintentionally” during my absence and without any prior discussion or consultation) to transfer me out of taxi operation to take charge of limo operations had “disturbed” my original plan and thus prompted me to resign in January instead of March 2010.

As you may be unaware, I have actually approached the company's Employee Welfare & Performance Manager initially to seek her advice on how to process my resignation, including which dates to indicate in my resignation form for the last day of work and the effective date of resignation. I also enquired about the eligibility of my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay but, honestly speaking; she didn't brief or caution me about the so-called company policy with regard to the Performance Bonus Pay.

If she was knowledgeable of the said policy, I am sure she could have cautioned me in advance or at least made known to me of the relevant guidelines. She might have protected the company interest (for withholding the guidelines or information) but sadly enough, she overlooked the welfare and performance aspects of a senior employee. However, I am not blaming her as she might have forgotten or preferred to stay neutral.

As a matter of fact, I officially left the company effective 31 January 2010 and I received my final settlement on the same date when Performance Bonus Payments were also paid to eligible staff, and some of them were even poorly performed than me and with lower scored ratings (pleased check the relevant records for comparison).

There are many types of mechanism to retain employees. Performance Bonus alone is one of them but not necessarily effective. Take me for example; I would still want to resign even if the company is trying to retain my service. Just take a look on how a senior employee is being treated when comes to transfer, promotion, termination and other disciplinary actions. Incidentally, I was issued with a FINAL WRITTEN WARNING and fined for almost QR3,000 for the first time during my tenor with Mowasalat because of unintentional mistakes made by other staff in my department. There were speculations that we were framed and I was being set up by someone who disliked me. Personally speaking, I believe there was element of selective persecution by someone in the company. How come those who wasted lots of company revenues and resources due to their mismanagement were not persecuted or terminated? Why victimised and penalised me with a final warning and a fine? Was it purely discretional or based on Key Performance Indicators?

Your Excellency, you may not be aware that this disciplinary action was undertaken without the due process of a well-organised domestic inquiry. The legal adviser only conducted a unilateral inquiry and later I was penalised arbitrary, which of course was not even adhering to the rules and regulations as outlined per the Employee Handbook. My line manager was not given the authority or opportunity to sit in the inquiry session when the legal adviser was interviewing me. See the double standards here?

For Performance Bonus Pay, the HR Director said it was unfortunate that the management was unable to entertain my appeal as this had been the company policy, which many of us are unaware of. Whilst, when it comes to disciplinary penalty, the management was able to entertain me but NOT in accordance to laid-down policy and procedure. I had never received any verbal warning from my previous line managers, not even any First or Second written warning had ever been issued to me during my tenor with Mowasalat except the one mentioned above. Do you think this is fair or justified? Where could I seek justices for this kind of victimisation? I assume this as purely selective persecution by someone in the company.

As what the HR Director has rightly said, the 2009 Performance Bonus Pay is for consideration as a reward for my previous performance (assessment period: January -- June 2009) to motivate me for improved future performance. In light of this, the company should acknowledge my performance for the period of assessment, which was performed by Mr. Craig before he left. The performance assessment records are with HRD and I believe you could easily refer back to see how many points and the rating I have scored. To substantiate that, I am pleased to enclose a scanned testimonial from Mr. Craig for your reference.

Please compare this testimonial and my rating (as per performance assessment for January – June 2009) with that of other Managers in T&L Business Unit and make your own conclusion. Won't you think I should be eligible or qualified for the 2009 Performance Bonus Pay? Won’t you think that it is unethical and morally wrong to deprive me of the performance-based bonus by simply using excuses such as “company policy” and “discretion of the board”? I guess it was a one-man’s discretion or decision not to honour my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay. For sure it could not be discretion of the Board of Directors. You may want to find out who was that one-man?

Your Excellency, as you can see, my Performance Bonus Pay for a 5-rating (equivalent to 1.2 times basic salary) is only a small sum to Mowasalat and definitely the company can afford to pay out, and will never be enriched by withholding or saving this money. Surely enough, the company does not need this amount to make or declare a profit. However, this bonus provision will certainly benefit me, your ex-employee whom the management have never deprived of my past contributions and performances thus far.

Mowasalat is growing and has got the vision to move the Middle East in the future. And the Mission of HR Department is to attract, motivate and retain the best of employees since the quality of employees has been and will remain to be the mainstay of the success of the company. What a meaningful mission statement but how to attract good talents if somebody in the company is so mean or calculative on Performance Bonus Pay? Why based on an individual’s discretion instead of adopting the verified performance assessment?

For the past two years, I had received performance-related bonuses during the month of January in 2008 and 2009. However, January 2010, the bonus amount was left out in the letter of acceptance of my resignation (issued by HR Director) and my payslip. The previous bonus provisions and announcements relied on were contained in a number of documents including the enclosed circular issued by the HR Director. In all the related circulars the terms were very general, and were never stated to be "discretionary". See the point here?

Kindly be aware that the use of the term "discretionary" applied to the decision whether to pay a bonus at all, its calculation and the amount awarded. The employer (Mowasalat) could not simply rely on the "discretion" to avoid making any bonus payments to its employees.
You may ask what this means in practice?

Where a bonus scheme is said to be "discretionary", employees will not have a contractual right to a bonus but, the discretion on whether to pay a bonus (and if so, how much) must be exercised in good faith.

This means that the employer (Mowasalat) must:

• not act in a manner which is irrational or perverse;
• take into account all relevant factors; and
• ignore all irrelevant factors.

The factors that will be relevant are:

• the terms of the bonus scheme; and
• if the employees have historically received a bonus.

Your Excellency, as you may be aware, if this case were to go to a Tribunal, the company (Mowasalat) may face difficulties convincing the Tribunal that the discretion has been exercised in good faith where:

• there are no written terms, or the terms are unclear; or
• historically bonuses have been paid (to me);
• bonus payments are inconsistent; or
• there is no clear evidence to support the reason(s) given for the discretion being exercised in the manner it has.

Your Excellency, if you don’t mind, I would like to share with you some of my personal opinions regarding Performance-based Bonus. When considering bonus payments for employees, other key points to bear in mind are:

• If a bonus is stated to be dependant on certain factors, an employer will not act in good faith if other factors are taken into consideration. For example, where the payment of bonus is dependant on individual performance, even if the company has performed poorly, a bonus will still be payable if the employee has achieved his or her individual performance targets.

• Where employees subject to the same bonus scheme receive differing amounts of bonus, an employer risks claims for discrimination. If the only material difference between employees is age, sex, race, religion (or belief), sexual orientation or disability, clear evidence for the reasons for making the decision will be required.

• Where an employee is entitled to a bonus each year, but the terms of each year's scheme are discretionary, an employer can legitimately change the terms each year but must provide a bonus scheme each year and set out what the terms of that scheme will be.

• Employers cannot terminate employment in order to avoid paying a bonus. This will amount to a breach of contract and the dismissal is likely to be unfair. Likewise, employers cannot use an employee’s resignation as an excuse or standard to avoid paying a bonus, especially if it is strictly performance-related. This will amount to breach of ethics of discretion and the non payment of bonus is likely to be unfair and morally wrong.

• Non payment of a bonus which an employee is entitled to, or payment of a smaller bonus than an employee is entitled to, is likely to amount to a fundamental breach of contract enabling the employee to resign and bring a claim for unfair dismissal.

Your Excellency, you may want to know how do an ethical perspective help people in organizations make “hard choices”? Hard choices imply not only a complicated situation, but also a desire to act ethically, a focus on the outcome of the decision, and a willingness to accept public scrutiny both during the decision and after the outcome is known. The elements of this framework include:


• Complexity: The circumstances are confused and difficult

• Self aware: Honest toward self and toward what we want as an outcome. A desire to be consciously and methodically ethical in reaching a decision

• Responsible: A concern for others and an acceptance of the consequences to others of the action taken

• Justifiable: Decisions can be justified, but never excused.

• Public: Willingness to explain to others how a decision is made, before it is made

• Realistic: Accepting of the world as it is, not as we wish.

Such a decision framework is not for the faint-of-heart. It requires both a commitment of purpose and the strength to endure failure. Those we call “statesmen” are men and women who have understood that to be ethical is to face the hard choices.

With the above points in mind, employers (especially Mowasalat) are recommended to review their bonus schemes (whether written or otherwise) to ensure that the terms are clear, transparent, reflect the best practice of the business and are applied consistently and in good faith. It will inevitably be easier to defend a claim where a detailed and written bonus scheme is in place than where there is simply a vague reference in the contractual documentation to a bonus scheme being available.

CONCLUSION

Administrative discretion is a complex topic. It is both necessary to organizational effectiveness and the source of potential abuse of power. The path out of the confusion is found in grounding discretion in both theoretical and practical notions of organizational learning and tacit knowledge. In establishing decision architecture the leadership of the organization can create the organizational learning and support environment in which the appropriate and bounded use of discretion is possible.

Based on a number of mitigating circumstances described in this letter, I wish to appeal to Your Excellency’s office to reverse the Executive Director’s or HR Director’s unreasonable and bias discretion and approve my 2009 Performance Bonus Pay soonest possible.

I am confident in the future of Mowasalat under the able leadership of Your Excellency, and appreciate your support in putting best business practices, humanity and compassion in good order and as part of Mowasalat’s corporate value.

Thank you for your time and involvement. I eagerly await Your Excellency’s response to my grievances and appeal. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need further information or clarification on anything covered in this letter.

Sincere wishes for inspiration, wisdom, courage, friendship, and compassion.


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