There are many expatriates living amidst us. Some have been drawn by substantial employment opportunities and packages and the desire to pursue such goals within their tenure here. And most of these people sign employment contracts in their home countries with full intention of honoring them.
The situation in quite a few cases is often and unfortunately different after their arrival here. Suddenly, they find themselves tabbed with clauses that were not discussed with or brought up initially. Or they find that within the clauses of the signed contract, interpretations by the employer are often polar. A case in point is the following submitted by a reader.
He starts off, “I suggest you write something regarding some employment abuses going on here in Saudi Arabia. Highly placed Saudis take great pains to proclaim that there are no rights violations in this country. I will tell you my story in brief to prove that the opposite is sometimes happening here and people like me feel quite helpless at times.
“I am a highly qualified obstetrician and gynecologist, trained in England for five years. I achieved membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (MRCOG) in 1996. After completing my training I returned to India in 1998. As fate would have it, I accepted a position as a consultant gynecologist at Jubail General Hospital. I was employed by a company called Scientific and Medical Equipment House (SMEH). I started work on Jan. 3, 2000, and my contract was for a period of three years. Little did I know that my contract was not worth the paper it was written on.
“Two years passed without incident. Then, this year, in April 2002, I got the news that my parents were not keeping well. So I decided to leave. My contract stipulates that the employee has to give notice four months in advance in order to terminate the contract. I resigned on April 29, 2002. The resignation letter was given to the project manager at the Jubail General Hospital, who then faxed the latter to the head office of SMEH in Riyadh.
“Two months passed. There was no word from the head office. So I sent another letter through the project manager on June 25, 2002, reminding the company that my resignation letter was sent in April and asking them to tell me when my last working day would be according to their calculations so that I could make travel arrangements, sell my car and complete other various formalities. Still no reply.
“Finally, on Nov. 4, 2002, more than six months after my resignation, I gave the company a week’s notice and told them that I would stop work from Nov. 12, 2002, if the company didn’t do anything about my termination notice. And still no response from the man in-charge at the head office in Riyadh. So, I had no option but to stop work from Nov. 12, which is what I did. The company is holding my passport. I know there are labor courts to deal with such matters but I also know that these cases can drag on for months followed by appeals and counter-appeals.
“The point of the story is that there are such people who are doing this, who are holding people against their will and who are not afraid. There are no punishments for such employers even when they lose the court case. At the most, the court will ask the company to let me go and eventually I will leave, but after so much harassment and personal anguish. I am a great admirer of the way crimes such as murder and rape are dealt with in Saudi Arabia. People are afraid of the punishment and hence in Saudi Arabia we have one of the lowest serious crime rates in the world.
“Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the crimes employers are committing against their employees. This happens because the punishment to the erring companies is not severe or exemplary. This gives a bad name to the labor rights record of Saudi Arabia. In my case, there is a clear abuse of my rights. I wanted to leave, I gave a proper termination notice but even six months later I am being held captive here just because my employer holds my passport and I can only leave this country when it suits his mood.
“All this because the law is lax in this regard. Until the law comes down hard on them, these few rotten people will continue to set a bad example and will continue to tarnish the name of Saudi Arabia in the eyes of the world.”
And there you have it. A man, a contract, and the lack of law enforcement to protect him.
— Tariq A. Al-Maeena, [email protected]
Arab News Features 23 November 2002
