JEDDAH, 12 December 2004 — Thirteen Saudis have been banned from recruiting any foreign maids as a punishment for mistreating them. On behalf of the Ministry of Labor, Deputy Minister Ahmed Al-Zamil said that the unidentified men failed to pay the maids or to repatriate them.

“I’m glad that the Saudi government and Labor Ministry is finally dealing with this issue,” said Mansour Reihan, an Indonesian family driver. “My wife and I used to both work for this family but when they wouldn’t pay us, I managed to get my wife to go home because what’s the point of both of us leaving our children if we’re not even making money to make up for our absence?”

Meanwhile, the authorities continue to modify labor regulations to ensure the rights and wellbeing of employees in all regions of the Kingdom.

Al-Zamil urged citizens and residents to strictly abide by the regulations related to foreign employees. Matters such as punctuality in paying them and permitting their rightful return to their homelands should be implemented according to the contract.

According to Al-Madinah daily, the new labor law would obligate any employer to grant all employees not less than an hour break during daily official work shifts. The daily hour break is to ensure no employee works for a stretch of five hours continuously.

The modification in labor regulations also states that employers are not allowed to obligate employees to take their hour-break on the work premises.

Additionally, a worker will have the right to annual leave of not less than 21 days in the year instead of the 15 days as it is in the current law. Any worker also has the right to postpone his or her vacation or to carry part of it to the following year.

“The problem isn’t just in the regulations that thankfully are changing,” said Imran Farooq, an employee at one of the private companies for electrical equipment. “The problem is, do the new changes in the labor system also mean that someone is going to be watching and making sure that the new laws are followed? It is about people getting away with not following the rules. What then?”

The modified system, issued by the Shoura Council last week state that maternity leave for women in the private sector would not be less than six weeks before delivery.

The new system would also prohibit employing minors unless evidence was given demonstrating the poor state of the family. The conditions attached state that the age not be younger than 15 and the job be neither dangerous nor immoral.

When a worker dies while employed, the modified system obligates the employer to compensate the family members surviving him with what would be equivalent to the years of service amounting to not less than SR58,000.

A source at the Shoura Council told Arab News that modifications and changes to labor regulations are still under review and declined to confirm or deny any of the reported changes.

“It’s about time that employers knew that there is God above them after all,” said Mohammad Al-Ghamdi, a young security guard at one of the prominent shopping malls. “What is also important that we, the workers know what our rights are as well as employers’ duties; this way neither steps on the other.”