Nepotism Turns Into Work Discrimination in Kurdistan of Iraq

Araz Barwari | Exclusive to iKurd.net

Nepotism means considering and favoring friends, relatives and family members for hiring to all kind of work positions in your business entity. And it is not illegal in most cases around the globe.

And even promoting or hiring family members is perfectly acceptable too, no matter if the individual is less qualified than other employees, because at the end of the day only the employer would lose benefits of business if he or she hires workers based on blood or any other kind of relations rather than merits, qualifications and right work skills.

Generally speaking, Nepotism in the public sector is much more open to check and scrutiny than in private sector. And that is because private businesses have the right to give promotion or hire and fire whomever they please and it is not illegal. There are, however, several factors to consider when relatives and friends are hired and work in the same company.

Because it is important to make sure nepotism does not turn into work discrimination. Although nepotism itself doesn’t violate any laws, but when it crosses the fine line and turns into discrimination, it certainly does. If members of a business owners’ family are being hired exclusively, and are all of one religion, ethnicity, or gender, the company could be unfairly discriminating against other workers.

For example, according to a supervisor from department of Electricity in the province of Duhok, who preferred to remain anonymous, a Security Service contract have recently been awarded by Ministry of Electricity in Kurdistan Region-Iraq to a private Security Service Company called Korejer in the province of Duhok. Korejer Security Company is owned by the son of Mohammad Mohsen Amedi who is a prominent member of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

He is also related to Hoshiyar Zebari by family marriage connection. The contract has been awarded to Korjer company to provide man security service for the giant electric /gas power station of Duhok called (DGPS). The station is located to the north of Duhok province near the city of Sumel.

In turn, Korejer Security Service Company has hired around 20 security services men who all come from a same town and related to one another by blood, tribe and village background. They are all people who originally come from a village in north of Iraq that is called (Aradena). In addition, all the security guards who have been hired by Korejer Company reside in the same town called Sarsing. These security men have been appointed to do the job of security guarding for the giant electric station (DGPS) in Duhok province, Iraq. However, there is not a single security guard among them who comes from a different town, background and so forth.

This is clearly crossing the line of legal hiring employees, from nepotism to work discrimination done by this company. Because all the security guards of Korejer Company who guards (DGPS) electric station, are being hired exclusively, and are all of one and the same background who originally comes from Aradena village. And as a result, the company is clearly and unfairly discriminating against other security men who come from a different villages or towns.

It is fair enough that employers should be able hire people who are related to them or one another but they can’t choose to hire only certain people exclusively and not to hire other people who do not come from the same village, town, or other different backgrounds.

Businesses in general must ensure that, while who they hire is up to them, they are not making decisions based solely on factors that could be grounds for legal action. Using background origin, religion, political party affiliation, race and so forth as basis for hiring is prohibited by law in many countries around the world including Iraq. The key is in your intention and the justification for making your decisions.

And businesses in Kurdistan of Iraq should treat employment process carefully and with adequate legal advice from a qualified attorney. And companies in Kurdistan of Iraq should enact workable policies to ensure that fairness and cooperation remains the focus of their business. You can do business as long as you stay on the side of the law.

Araz Barwari is a law student at the University of Nawroz in Kurdistan of Iraq.

The opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of iKurd.net or its editors.