JEDDAH, 6 April 2006 — The preliminary committee for the settlement of labor disputes in Jeddah overturned a decision of the supervisory council of the Ain Al-Aziziah Endowment and ordered it to reinstate all employees dismissed as part of a retrenchment.
Ain Al-Aziziah is a non-profit organization devoted to funding water projects.
According to the ruling, the workers will be entitled to their salaries as of Jan. 1, the day of their termination, Al-Madinah newspaper reported. Despite absence from work following the termination, their service should be treated as continuous, the committee said in its ruling. This will entitle the workers to all fringe benefits including annual leave.
Since Ain Al-Aziziah’s lawyer did not move the appeal court within the stipulated time, the order became effective from the beginning of this week. The committee had ruled that the endowment could appeal the verdict within one month and if it failed to do so the decision would be considered as final.
The Ain Al-Aziziah administration, however, is sticking to its earlier stand and has refused to take the workers back. It disputes the labor committee’s jurisdiction in the case saying the endowment’s workers fall under the civil service regulations.
But the workers point out that a committee consisting of representatives from the ministries of finance, civil service and labor has clarified that the labor committee’s decision will be binding on all workers originally hired under the labor law but were transferred later to work under the supervisory council of the endowment.
The workers who sought the help of the labor committee were originally appointed under the labor law.
