Manama: Bahrain is to reinstate within 10 days all public sector employees who were sacked over charges related to the incidents that hit the country in February and March.
All government authorities under the umbrella of the Civil Service Bureau must reinstate on January 1, 2012 the employees who were dismissed through disciplinary decisions, Shaikh Khalid Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, the deputy prime minister and deputy chair of the civil service board said on Tuesday.
According to official figures, 180 employees were sacked by disciplinary boards set up in the various ministries and official agencies following the imposition of the state of the national safety in March.
However, several employees, following the lifting of the emergency laws, challenged the decisions and stepped up pressure for their reinstatement.
A report prepared by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) after a four-month investigation into the incidents and their consequences recommended the reintegration of the workers.
"The decision to reinstate the dismissed workers is in line with the orders of the King and the Prime Minister as well as with the recommendation of the report," Ahmad Al Zayed, the Chairman of the Civil Service Bureau, said. "The disciplinary boards have finished their investigations and there is no sacked employee who is suspended from his work pending the probe," he said.
Employees who had been transferred to the public prosecution are still carrying out their professional duties and receiving their salaries until the investigations are over, he said.
According to the BICI report, the private sector, the overwhelming component of the economic sector in Bahrain, has resisted calls to reinstate many of the dismissed employees.
