According to the Saudi newspaper, “Al Madina”, the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia (parliament) is expected to decide about Article 77 of the Labour Law, on today’s session. This latter deals with the financial compensation of the arbitrarily dismissed workers, which has been a controversial article, over years, due to the complaints of thousands of private sector workers.
According to the newspaper, with regard to Article 77, the Committee on Social Affairs, Family and Youth suggested the redrafting of the article in a way that would rise the value of the workers’ compensation, in case of their arbitrary dismissal, without the identification of a maximum compensation. In fact, it would be unreasonable and illogical, as it would harm those who had worked for a long time. Moreover, it is not possible to compensate the same amount of that of the end-of-service renumeration because, as in the first five years, it is only a half-month wage, which is not different from Article 77 and its adoption would not actually solve the problem.
The committee considered that "the labour court undervalued the compensation of the victims, as it is not enough to pay back the damage suffered by workers.”. Besides, it confirmed that the proposed amendment by the committee contributed to the increase in the compensation of workers, in case of their arbitrary dismission. Moreover, the labour court estimate of the compensation is in fact, a violation of Article 77, which deals with the illegal dismissal of workers, in addition to dealing with the mitigation of the foreign workers’ exploitation, during the period of trial, to stay in the kingdom, as long as possible.
The newspaper pointed out that the amendments included the labour articles, notably articles 75 and 77, and the settling of the arbitrary dismissal of workers. In addition, it stressed that the Committee on Social Affairs, Family and Youth pointed out in its report that the notice period should be different for both the worker and the employer, as in case of arbitrary dismissal there are no notice periods. Moreover, it is also known that the worst labour relationships and problems may occur during the notice period.
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