53 per cent insured earn up to RO 500

MUSCAT, Feb 24 -

More than half of the Omanis registered with the Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI) have insured monthly wages ranging from RO 325 and RO 500.

Of the total number of employees registered with PASI, 32 per cent are from Muscat Governorate, shows the latest data from the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

While 53.7 per cent insured are in the salary bracket below RO 500, the number of employees earning wages above RO 2,000 stood at 11,014 during the same period.

Data from PASI, meanwhile, shows that the number of insured active employees stood at 238,688 at the end of January 2018.

In Oman, the social security insurance aims to provide security against old age, disability, death or occupational injury and disease, thereby ensuring social stability for the insured and their dependents.

In a statement on social media, the authority has warned companies that had not sent the salary details to do so or face huge one-time penalties.

Article 17 of the Social Security Law provides that an employer who is subject to the law, but does not pay the contribution according to actual wages of the employees, then the employer shall be obliged to pay to PASI an additional amount estimated at 13.5 per cent of the contribution.

In addition to the penalty imposed under Article 17, PASI also sets out an additional penalty under Article 74 of the Social Security Law.

“If the employer violates any of the provisions of the Social Security Law, the employer shall be punished with a fine of not less than RO 100 and not more than RO 500, and the limits of the punishment will be double in case of repetition of the violation, and the fine multiplies according to the number of the employees with respect to whom the employer commits one or more violations,” states the law.

The highest percentage of 22.8 per cent of insured employees falls in the age group of 26 to 30 with the number totalling 50,755.