Fatima Muhammad
Saudi Gazette
AROUND 500 employees of various nationalities who worked previously for Al-Ansar Hospital are still waiting for unpaid wages that have been due since 2010.
They claimed they were all still unable to get their delayed salaries even though a court ruled in their favor over 18 months ago.
A group of doctors visited Saudi Gazette this week because they have not received anything even though they have visited the court at least twice a month.
Another group of health and administration staff visited Saudi Gazette last week in hope to raise their concern through the media.
Saudi Gazette visited the court on Tuesday, but no access to the judge was allowed. The secretariat office advised Saudi Gazette and the group of workers to come again to the court after two to three weeks.
They explained that the owner of the hospital has to pay some money to business cooperation and banks, but noted that the court is “giving priority to individuals involved in the case.”
The secretariat also stated that they now have SR1.2 million generated from the rent the court received from an investor renting the hospital and is working on a way to distribute it among the individuals involved.
The staff said they have been hearing these promises for 18 months now but no money has come.
Three workers — two security guards and a chef — have died before getting their delayed salaries and end of service benefits worth as much as SR90,000.
All employees were able to transfer their sponsorship to other establishments, but some are leaving the country for good and are concerned about their money.
Among them is a Filipino worker who joined Saudi Gazette at the court to obtain power of attorney for a colleague to follow up her case after she leaves.
Other workers include Filipinos who are over 65 and have concerns that their new employers will deport them as they are not fit for the job.
One of them is a Filipino worker who already lost his job and has been admitted to intensive care due to his deteriorating health.
He will only be able to stay in the Kingdom until September as his residence permit will expire by that time.
An Egyptian doctor said she is sitting in the Kingdom though her family has moved back to her country and still doubts she will get money owed to her worth in excess of SR200,000.
The judge, according to another doctor who spoke to Saudi Gazette, “is not available all the time as he works both in Riyadh and Jeddah.
“On top of that the company renting the hospital and should be paying the outstanding rent to the court is not abiding by the regulations.”
He explained that the investor renting the hospital should be paying SR400,000 to the court, while SR300,000 must be provided by the owner of the hospital on a monthly basis.
These funds are to be used to pay delayed salaries and finalize the dispute between the owner of the hospital and other investing companies and banks.
However, the owner did not pay the money to the court, while the renting company also has not paid up for the past two months.
The doctor said: “Even the already collected SR1.2 million has not been distributed amongst us yet.”
The total amount that the owner has to provide adds up to SR57 million, of which over SR14 million is for employees.
The two teams interviewed by Saudi Gazette have called on Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to look into their case and urged the concerned authorities to speed up the process by which they can put an end to this saga.
They explained in a letter sent to the King (a copy of which is obtained by Saudi Gazette) that they have struggled for four years to get a final decision specifying the amounts each one of them shall get.
However, the case has been pending in the court for 18 months now even after judges ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor.
Furthermore, the owner of the hospital has been released without any assurances that he will pay, and the investor renting the hospital has not yet been obliged to pay the rent to the court directly so it can be used to settle the delayed wages.
