Saudi: Employers to Get SR 2000 Fine and 1-Year Recruitment Ban for Mistreatment of Domestic Workers
There are several provisions to protect the rights of domestic workers and their employers in the new regulations that will come into effect shortly, according to well-informed sources at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.
The regulations stipulated that a maximum fine of SR2000 or a one-year recruitment ban or both will be awarded to an employer in the event of mistreating male and female domestic workers. It was stipulated in the regulations that domestic workers shall face penalties if they reveal confidential secrets of their employers.
These punitive measures will be based on paragraph two of article seven of the Labor Law, which aims to regulate the relationship between the two parties so that the domestic worker is not assigned to any dangerous work that threatens his health, safety of his body, or affects his human dignity.
The regulation stipulates that the penalty for the violation of domestic workers includes a fine not exceeding SR2,000 or imposing a ban on working in the Kingdom permanently or both. If the fines are multiplied by the multiplicity of violations, the worker has to meet the cost for the return to his country, and if the domestic does not have the financial capability to pay the fines, he or she will send them back at the expense of the state.
The regulation indicated that these fines shall be transferred to a bank account to facilitate the disbursement of them for the accommodation and deportation of domestic workers, as well as for the deportation of workers, according to a mechanism approved by the Minister of human resources and social development.
The regulations stressed that the domestic worker must perform the work agreed upon so as not to be subjected to a penalty of fine and deportation, and to follow the orders of the employer and his family members related to the implementation of the agreed work. The domestic worker has to safeguard the employer’s property, not harm family members, including children and the elderly, and safeguard the secrets of the employer and family members, which he becomes aware of during or because of work, and not disclose them to others.
The regulations stipulated penalties against employers, who commit violations with a fine not exceeding SR2,000 or a recruitment ban for one year or both.
If the violation is repeated, the worker shall be punished with a fine of not less than SR2,000 and not more than SR5000 or by preventing him from recruiting for three years, or both, and if the violation is repeated for the third time, the concerned committee would impose a permanent ban on recruitment.
According to article seven of the regulations, the employer is obligated not to assign the domestic worker anything other than the work agreed upon, except in cases of necessity, provided that the work he is assigned to is not fundamentally different from the assigned original work and that the worker pays the agreed-upon wage monthly unless the two parties agree in writing – otherwise, and to pay the wage and its entitlements in cash or check, and document this in writing unless the worker wishes to transfer it to his bank account while allowing the worker to enjoy daily rest for not less than 9 hours per day.
The regulations kept Article 9 related to deductions, without modifications, not exceeding half of the wage. It stressed that no deduction should be made except in the case of what was intentionally or negligently damaged.
