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Saturday 5 September 2009 (15 Ramadan 1430)
 

Law and You by Mohammed Jaber Nader
 
 

Stephen I and many other expatriate workers have been made to understand that our contracts are for two or more years. At the same time, our contracts contain what seems to be a short notice termination clause, which in fact may turn out to be a time bomb clause. This is a clause that allows the employer to terminate our contracts at any time by giving a notice of one or two months. Imagine me, having borrowed funds from my relatives for my future life in the Kingdom, arriving on the false assumption that I will stay for two years. As soon as I pass the three months probationary period, I assume I am safe at least for the period of my contract. Is this not unjust and un-Islamic?

There is no doubt that the law prevents injustice, but it cannot hold back the hands of people from signing contracts. I would not say it is a bad trick on the part of the employer, as he thinks he has the right to do it. Therefore, based on the Shariah principle of justice, Saudi law has imposed that when there are no specific contract dates, an employer must have a valid reason or a legitimate cause to effect a termination, such as a loss in business. There should also then be adequate compensation.

One may say that in other countries the rule is consent, hire and fire. That may be so in countries where civil institutions have long been established and a terminated employee is protected through a different way until he gets another job. For the expatriate in the Kingdom, there is only the contract — something that leads to the need for strict legal measure to protect expatriate employees. Expatriate employees can protect themselves against such clauses by not accepting such terminations — they should insist on full compensation for the absence of a valid reason and complain to the Labor Office and courts. A new recruit signing a contract to work in the Kingdom should not accept such clauses. Employees should have specified contract periods. Even in this case, after three years of a specified contract period, the law stipulates that all specified periods in such contracts become null, and the end of an expatriate’s contract is the last day of his work permit/residence stay.
 

A.S. I shall appreciate your guidance regarding the following questions related to calculating my End of Service Benefit (ESB). Firstly, my company pays me four salaries/year (33.33 percent of my basic salary/month) in housing allowance. In terms of calculating my ESB, am I entitled to the same amount as “housing”? Secondly, my company pays us one salary every year as a bonus. However, in our system it is called “Ikramyah” and not a bonus. Can you please advise if this amount should be considered a part of my final ESB?

This annual allowance is divided by 12 to get the monthly average and is added to your last monthly salary, together with all other allowances, including the Ikramyah, which will also be divided by 12, and the result added to the last monthly salary.


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