Muhammad Al-Hassani
LIFE is based on rights and duties. If individuals and organizations are committed to their rights and responsibilities things will become upright and justice and goodness would prevail.
We have noticed that some kinds of transgressions and conflicts occur between Saudi sponsors and their expatriate workers. In this situation, it is the duty of the authorities to hear both sides before taking any punitive action against a party in order to establish justice.
For example, we often see Saudi sponsors informing authorities that their foreign workers have run away in order to catch and deport them. Actually in many cases the expatriate worker may not have run away from his/her employer. Some conflicts might have occurred between them with regard to salary or other financial issues, especially some sponsors asking their workers to pay all their fees and a specific amount every month or year in lieu of sponsorship or opening a grocery or business firm in their name.
The profit from the business will go to the expatriate worker while the Saudi sponsor will have only his name, nothing more.
I think the relevant authorities should make sure whether the sponsor made the absconding charge against his/her worker on genuine grounds before issuing the absconding certificate. They should also make sure that the sponsor has given the foreign worker all his/her financial dues. This can be done by producing bank statement or obtaining the worker’s acknowledgement.
If the sponsor has no proof of paying the worker’s dues, then authorities can easily understand the type of relationship between the sponsor and the expatriate under his sponsorship, whether it was cover-up business (tasattur), free worker who works for others or foreigners running own businesses, giving their sponsors a certain amount monthly. If the worker fails to pay the agreed amount or more money is demanded by the sponsor the latter is likely to declare the worker absconding.
On the other hand, if the relationship was based on a sound principle the sponsor would be able to present his/her documents showing payment of worker’s rights. In this case, if the worker fails to perform his duties and cheats his sponsor and runs away, then the sponsor would have the right to make the absconding charge against him.
