MORE and more women are beginning to seek employment in Saudi Arabia. We live at a time of economic pressure and competitiveness. The Saudi society has become more receptive to the presence of women in the workplace, and many employers are beginning to recognize the innate value women bring with them when they are hired as employees.
It is, therefore, important that people, and women in particular, are familiar with the rights given to them under the Saudi labor law.
Let us first consider who is deemed an employee under the law. The law defines an employee as a workman, meaning any person working for an employer under the employer’s management or supervision in return for a wage (salary).
Under the Saudi labor law, there are specific rules that apply to women employees. One of the differences between male and women employees is that a woman is not allowed to be hired to work in jobs that could be harmful to her health or may expose her to specific hazards. This is why women are discouraged from working night shifts, since working at night could expose them to harassment by men. Or they may fall victims of crime.
When a woman employee gives birth to a child, she is entitled to paid maternity leave starting four weeks before her due date for delivery, and after the delivery, she is entitled to six weeks paid maternity leave.
The significance of stating that maternity leave be paid is that although the woman employee will not be working for almost 10 weeks, the employer must pay her the equivalent of half her salary if she has worked for the employer for a year or more and full salary if she worked for the employer for three years or more.
In addition, the employer is obliged to pay for a woman employee’s maternity medical care. Once the employee has returned to work, she is entitled to take one-hour breaks in order to breast-feed her child. The employer is not allowed to deduct from her salary for taking those breaks. Sometimes this could frustrate the employer, since many women in Saudi Arabia breast-feed their children up to the age of two years.
The employer is prohibited from firing the woman employee during maternity leave. It is also interesting to note that an employer cannot fire the woman employee if she is away for more than the statutory maternity leave because she is suffering from an ailment caused by her delivery. As long as her ailment which resulted from her delivery does not last for more than 180 days, she will not need to provide the employer with medical proof of her absence.
A woman employee cannot be fired for reasons that are not considered legal under the Saudi labor law during the 180 days after she delivers her child.
The law says that employers who have 50 women or more working for them who have at least 10 children under the age of six, have to provide the women employees with appropriate caretakers with whom they can leave their children while they work.
If the employer has 100 or more women working for them, then the employer will be under an obligation to set up a childcare center in the surrounding area. This is seen as an ideal way to keep women in employment, especially in industries that employ many women.
Finally, under the Saudi labor law, a woman employee whose spouse passes away can abstain from work for 15 days with her salary paid in full. In contrast, male employees are only given three days off work with full pay in the event that their spouse dies.
Although women in Saudi Arabia lack rights in many areas, the Saudi labor law’s recognition of special rights for working women is a progressive step forward.
— Tala Emad Al-Hejailan is a practicing Saudi lawyer. She obtained her law degree in the UK where she lived for 10 years.
