JEDDAH, 12 September 2006 — A judge ruled yesterday in favor of Jeddah medical interns who had sued King Abdul Aziz University for applying a pay cut ahead of the date on which it was to come into effect.
The court is expected to issue detailed instructions today on how more than 400 interns can receive their due — more than SR17 million in unpaid salaries — from the university.
The Ministry of Higher Education announced last year that it would cut the salaries of Saudi medical interns by 44 percent beginning this month. However, the interns sued the university in February for applying the pay cut in September of 2005 instead of September this year.
The KAAU Saudi interns, who were specializing in medicine, dentistry, medical technology and nursing and have since become full-time doctors, raised the issue of the early deduction to their allowances late last year. The interns filed the lawsuit on Feb. 7 after their complaints were ignored.
After a series of postponements between February and July, the judge ruled yesterday in favor of the plaintiffs.
Shoura Council President Saleh Bin-Humaid announced in July that the Kingdom’s appointed consultative body backed the interns in their fight. Now it seems that they may finally get their due.
