The new Wage Protection System being implemented by the Ministry of Labor, under which all companies regardless of size will by 2015 have to pay their employees electronically through bank accounts, is a huge step forward in protecting the rights of workers in the Kingdom.
The ministry will be given copies of all employee payments in an effort to monitor the disbursement of workers’ salaries on time. A major complaint of some workers in Saudi Arabia has long been the delays by certain employers in paying wages. And don’t think that only smaller companies delay their workers’ salaries. An Egyptian engineer friend of mine worked for one of the largest construction firms in the country and he used to tell me that his salary was regularly delayed for three or four months. The only way he survived was by living on credit cards, since he never had an even cash flow with which to pay his rent and bills.
The other major development, which came with this news, was that workers who are not paid their salaries for three months in a row would be allowed to find new sponsors without the consent of their current sponsors. This is a loosening of the sponsoring (kafala) system, under which a disgruntled employee could not change sponsors easily and in most cases had to leave the Kingdom to return home and then be hired by a new employer in order to come back. That was a cumbersome, expensive and long process without any guarantees that the new sponsor would be able to hire the worker.
This new development at least gives workers, who are being abused by employers who do not pay their salaries, a light at the end of the tunnel. Three months without receiving any pay is disastrous and most workers would normally in those circumstances be ready to go home after not being able to pay their bills or send money home to their families. Now the new law will allow them the chance to find new employers while still here in the country, which will lower their stress levels and be much better on their wallets.
For years, I edited rivers of stories about foreign workers not being paid their salaries on time in Saudi Arabia, either because their sponsors abandoned them and disappeared, or because their employers would claim they did not have enough funds to pay all of their employees. This has caused much distaste among workers and generated ill will against Saudi employers and the country in general. By allowing unpaid workers to find new employers is a sign that the government is heeding the needs of workers and is seeking ways to redress situations of abuse.
Having an electronic database of all salaries in the Kingdom and the dates when they are paid, will give government agencies such as the ministries of labor and interior, a powerful tool with which to go after negligent employers both big and small, in order to ensure that all workers are paid on time.
The current Nitaqat system of awarding points to Saudi companies based on the numbers of Saudis that they employ has also been an effective rule in forcing the private sector to hire more Saudis. For far too long the private sector has become addicted and dependent on cheaper foreign labor, to the detriment of the many unemployed Saudis. For sure it costs more to hire and train Saudis, but at least we will be training our own people and investing in the country’s future. Not to mention the millions of riyals that will stay in the country instead being sent abroad through remittances.
n The writer is a Saudi journalist based in Brazil.
