Expatriate workers of factories complain that their salaries have been delayed for as long as two months. At the same time, most of them say, they have been denied overtime payments for working during the holy month of Ramadan. They have now threatened to submit a formal complaint to the labor office.

Meanwhile, some human resource department supervisors in private factories confirmed that a limited number of expatriate workers did not receive their salaries due to technical problems in the system. “The technical problems started from June but they will earn all their salaries at the end of the current month of August,” one of them said.

Fadal Abu Al-Anain, who is financial adviser for a number of private companies, said: “The factories, which have a huge number of workers, are currently facing technical problems in applying the new system of the wage protection program to transfer the monthly salaries of the workers to their bank accounts.”

Speaking to Arab News, he said: “Most factories and private firms that employ thousands of workers have been facing technical problems when applying the wage protection program. In fact, such problems should be resolved in a short time.”

Companies with at least 1,000 workers are being given four more months to implement a wage protection system that was introduced by the Ministry of Labor last year in a bid to ensure employees’ rights.

The ministry’s decision to postpone to Nov. 1 the implementation of the fourth phase of the protection bill for companies with more than 500 workers, originally scheduled for July 1, was taken after the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) demanded that pressure be eased on the Kingdom’s banks, which have been tasked with salary payments under the new system.

The implementation of the fourth phase is, however, coinciding with the payment of Hafiz unemployment benefits to jobless youth, putting more pressure on banks.

The wage protection system involves the creation of a database containing updates on wage payment in the private sector. Information includes the amount and date the salary was paid. The new system also stipulates that salary payment be made solely through banks.

Sultan Qassim, HR supervisor in a private firm, told Arab News: “The company should have started transferring workers’ monthly salaries to their bank accounts in the last month of June but some technical problems led to the postponement of this plan until the end of this month.”

Ali Abdul Razaq, an expatriate worker in Jeddah, said he has been a victim of delayed salary for the month of Ramadan and Eid Al-Fitr. He has, however, been assured by his employer that he will be paid.