Saeed Al-Suraihi
TO best describe the pain and suffering that expatriate workers, and workers in general, go through when companies do not pay them their salaries, we have to first talk about the bureaucratic processes these workers have to go through after they are deprived of their dues. After all their failed attempts, they have to first go to the labor ministry and file an official complaint against their company. The ministry will ask workers to continue working while it summons the company’s owners and goes through their financial records to authenticate the claim.
When the labor ministry authenticates the claim, the case is then transferred to the labor disputes reconciliation office where a lawsuit is filed against the company owner and a decision is issued to force him pay the late salaries. If the owner refuses to pay, the case is then transferred to a court where the owner is given a month to pay, after which procedures against the owner start. The owner’s electronic services will be shut down until he pays the full salaries.
We have to imagine here the pain and suffering these workers are going through when months pass by waiting for these procedures to reach a conclusion and for them to receive their compensation for their labor. In the mean time, these workers with no salaries do not know how to provide for themselves, earn money, or provide for their families back home. They left their countries to provide an honest living for their families with what they transfer every month.
We have to imagine the pain and suffering of these workers when the labor office forces them to continue to work so the projects are not delayed. It treats them as they are just like the machines they use in these projects.
We have to imagine the pain and suffering of unpaid workers in a country that keeps repeating the saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) about paying people before their sweat dries. Why can’t officials at the labor ministry create rules that protect these workers from cumbersome bureaucratic procedures? Officials at the labor ministry should know the pain and danger delaying salaries could cause to these people. It will create problems that only these workers will suffer from.
