A ruling has gone in favor of a Saudi female doctor, who was fired arbitrarily by the management of a government hospital without written notification and did not renew her job contract.

This follows the Second Circuit of the General Authority for Labor Dispute Resolution in Jeddah, which ruled in favor of the decision of the Board of First Instance for Labor Dispute Resolution in Makkah.

The ruling ordered payment of a compensation of SR250,000 to the plaintiff for moral and financial damages.

Sources overseeing the case indicate the doctor was surprised when the hospital management fired her and failed to renew her contract without any prior written notification of their decision, despite the fact that she is a specialist in one of the rare medical fields and worked as head of the department of vascular surgery.

The source said the plaintiff’s attorney first filed a complaint with the Board of First Instance in Makkah on 2/8/1434.

The board’s ruling ordered payment of a compensation amounting to SR250,000 to the plaintiff to cover all her unpaid expenses and damages, but refused requests for the doctor’s return to work in the same position with the same benefits and title, and to pay her salary until the date of her return to work, as well as covering the attorney’s fees.

The plaintiff’s attorney then appealed the decision of the Board of First Instance in Makkah before the Second Circuit of the General Authority for Labor Dispute Resolution in Jeddah, calling once again that his client be permitted to return to work at the hospital, in addition to the compensation.

The authority approved that the plaintiff be permitted to return to work, given that neither party informed the other of their desire to end the contract, as well as transferring the work contract from a fixed-term employment contract to an indefinite employment contract.