Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — There will be a fine amounting to SR5,000 for employing a foreign worker without a work permit or notifying Ajeer Program, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD).

This penalty is part of a ministerial decision based on the revised schedule of violations and penalties in the Labor Law. The final draft of the schedule was released by the ministry, a copy of which was seen by Okaz/Saudi Gazette. The final draft was framed after amending the schedule of violations and penalties issued by a ministerial resolution No. 92768 dated Jamad Al-Awwal 5, 1443 in accordance with royal orders and new amendments to the Labor Law and ministerial decisions regulating the labor market, and in implementation of Chapter 15 of the Labor Law, especially related to penalties.

According to the amended schedule, the employer’s non-compliance with the rules of occupational protection, safety and health approved by the ministry as well as his failure to take the necessary precautions to protect workers in all activities is a serious violation. There will be fines ranging between SR1500 and SR5000 for this violation. The business owner or his agent is responsible for the accidents that others may suffer at the firm’s premises.

The ministerial decision also stipulated that the absence of a designated place for childcare or a nursery for the establishment that employs 50 workers or more is a non-serious violation, and the violator will be faced with a fine of SR5000. It is specified that there will be at least 10 or more children of workers, and their age will be less than six years.

As per the revised schedule, hiring children under 15 years of age is a serious violation, and fines for the violation range from SR1,000 to about SR2,000, and the employment of working women during the six weeks following childbirth is also a serious violation that warrants fine amounting to SR1,000.

According to the ministerial decision, the employer hiring a non-Saudi worker without obtaining a work permit or notifying Ajeer Program is a serious violation for which fine amounting to SR10000 will be imposed. There are also strict provisions to prevent any sort of discrimination at workplace. In the event of detection of any kind of discrimination, whether against workers or job applicants in terms of work conditions and regulations or while hiring or publishing advertisement or in wages between men and women workers in a job of equal value, or in any work that results in the nullification and multiplication of equal opportunities, a fine of SR3,000 will be slapped. There will be a fine of SR1000 for employer for keeping passport or residency permit (iqama) of the worker or his family members.

There will be a fine of SR300 in the event of failure to pay workers’ wages and their dues in the official currency of the country on their due dates specified in their approved bank accounts, or withholding the worker’s wages or part of it unless there is a judicial verdict.

There will be fine of SR5000 for the following violations. Failure of the establishment to form a committee to investigate cases of behavioral abuse at workplace or to investigate and recommend the imposition of a disciplinary penalty on those found guilty within five working days of receiving the complaint, or impose a disciplinary penalty on the offending worker in case of behavioral violations in the work environment after the committee’s recommendation against those found guilty within 30 days from the date of conviction.

The violator shall pay the fine imposed on him within 60 days from the date of issuing notification of the administrative decision. In the event of non-implementation during this period, the services provided by the ministry will be suspended for him until the fine is paid in accordance with the provisions of the executive regulations of the Labor Law