Fines of up to $10 thousand and the definitive cancellation of the notice of operations are some of the sanctions included in the new law against illegal recruitment of foreign employees.
From a statement issued by the National Assembly of Panama:
As a legal tool to curb human exploitation of immigrants by companies, fines will be increased, a definitive cancellation of the notice of operations has been proposed, sanctions will be doubled if the number of workers exceeds ten, and the situation occurring within these establishments will be made public.
Entrepreneurs have proposed increasing the proportion of foreign personnel that can be legally contracted by companies operating in the country, from 15% to 20%.
Lack of personnel with the qualifications demanded by local companies and the multinationals that decide to settle in Panama is the main reason behind the proposal put forward by the business sector to authorize the hiring of more foreign staff.
Congress has passed a law that regulates the recruitment of foreign doctors and health technicians on a temporary basis.
From a press release issued by the National Assembly of Panama:
The full National Assembly approved on its third reading, a bill regulating the hiring of foreign medical and technical professional services on a temporary basis.
The Net Employment Outlook for the first three months of 2012 is +24%, putting more pressure on a market with a serious shortage of qualified human resources.
While efforts are being made to the train people locally, foreigners continue to come into the country to meet the demand of international companies based there.
Eric Quesada, Regional Director for Manpower, said: "Today there are significant challenges for companies to find staff, specially skilled staff. The foreign population is constantly increasing, as people come to fill the positions that are not being covered locally. "
Given the increasing shortage of skilled labor, the tourism industry has made a request for the rules regarding hiring foreigners to be relaxed.
The president of the Hotel Association of Panama (Apatel), Sara Brown, said they are in negotiations with the Tourism Authority to introduce into the new tourism law being debated in the Legislature, a regulation that allows an increase in the percentage of foreign staff working in businesses related to tourism.
In the absence of specialists the Social Security Department has announced it will hire180 foreign doctors.
The vacancies are in the areas of cardiology, surgery, anesthesiology and internal medicine in the district of Panama and the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Cocle, Colon, Chiriqui, Herrera, Los Santos and Veraguas.
"This is the first request for foreign medics by the institution this year, based on Resolution 2 of 1985, which allows the CSS and the Ministry of Health to hire foreign professionals in various areas via competitive tender or if within one within 30 days of a convocation no national candidates come forward.
The Social Security Fund will recruit foreign medical specialists for the Limon Hospital.
Given the refusal of medical specialists in Costa Rica to work in the Caribbean city, health authorities in conjunction with the Medical College have agreed in principle to the recruit for one year foreign specialists to fill vacancies in Limon.
Deputy Health Minister, Mauricio Vargas, said the hiring of foreign doctors is temporary and "parallel to the creation of a law on mandatory social service," reports the article in Nacion.com.
Since 2007 the company has relocated 400 of its executives and their families in Panama.
For this, the company has invested $50 million. These logistics costs might include housing and children tuition, plus other benefits.
“Additionally, these 400 executives from 17 nationalities, most of them Venezuelans, are spending $15 million per year in Panama”, said Antionio Boadas, P&G foreign relations manager for Latin America.