RIYADH, 2 June 2003 — The Shoura Council is expected to debate tomorrow the employment law for women, which is to be approved soon.
The council has set Tuesday to discuss the employment of women in Saudi Arabia. The social affairs, health, and environmental panel within the council is expected to study the issue and raise matters arising from it with council members.
According to the new labor law, employers are obliged to give women maternity leave of 70 days at full pay if they have been working with the employer for no less than three years. Companies are also obliged to give maternity leave at half pay to women employed for less than a year.
Article 185 states that the employer does not have the right to terminate the services of female staff if they are absent from work for up to six months due to surgery or medical attention related to maternity. Should the employer insist on terminating the employee’s service during that period, the employer will be fined and ordered to reinstate the employee or compensate her for the months she was absent from work.
Article 180 gives women the right to ask for maternity leave for four weeks before the expected delivery date and another six weeks following birth on condition that they submit a report by a physician or medical institution certified by the employer.
The weekly meeting of the Shoura yesterday also discussed articles of a new law to fight money laundering.
According to Dr. Hamoud Al-Badr, secretary-general of the Shoura, the meeting debated the issue of money laundering by officials of financial organizations.
“Article 4 of the law prevents financial organizations to deal with any unknown persons and urges them to ascertain the identity of persons they deal with,” he said.
Under the new law, financial institutions must keep documents and records for at least five years and produce them to judicial and other authorities when required.
The Shoura secretary-general said Article 11 of the law insisted on the establishment of a special unit to combat money laundering. This unit would receive and analyze information related to illegal monetary transactions.
The new law, which has 29 articles, also stipulates punishment for officials and individuals involved in the crime. The debate on the law will be completed today.
