Abdullah Massad Al-Rifaie said the establishment offered him SR5,000 to relinquish his complaint, but he refused.

Narrating his story, Al-Rifaie said he received a text message on his mobile about two months ago that he had been registered at the GOSI by a private establishment in Yanbu for a monthly salary of SR1,500.

“Next day I went to the GOSI to ask about the contents of the message and was surprised to find myself being employed by a private establishment for which I did not apply,” he said. Al-Rifaie said he asked the social insurance staff to give him data about the establishment or the phone number of its owner, but they declined to do so.

“I went to the labor office and asked them for some information about the establishment so as to talk to them, but the office refused and asked me to file an official complaint against it. I did, and the office gave me a subpoena for the owner of the establishment to come to the office for a hearing on Dec. 4,” he said.

Al-Rifaie said though he did not know the owner or his address, he took the subpoena for him.

“I searched until I ran into the owner and told him that I was one of his employees, but he denied me. I told him that I had an official printout from the GOSI about my registration in his company, but he said he did not know anything about that either.”

“A few days later, the owner called me to tell me that someone who had no connections with the establishment had employed me without my knowledge for reasons unknown to us,” he added.

Al-Rifaie told the owner to come to the labor office for the hearing on the fixed day.

“The owner did not come for the first, nor for the second session. The office fixed a date for a third session on Saturday, Dec. 17,” he added.

According to Al-Rifaie, the owner made an attempt with some people to convince him to rescind his complaint for SR5,000, but he refused on the ground that the money was little and it would deprive him of the monthly payments from the Hafiz program.

Director of the labor office Muhammad Karwan said the case was still being looked into by the office and asked Al-Rifaie to follow up his complaint.