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Tuesday 2 September 2008 (01 Ramadan 1429)
 

Law and You by Mohammed Jaber Nader
 
 

P.R. I have been working for two years at my starting salary of SR1,500. I receive no compensation for residence, medical, transportation or food. I have never signed a contract with this company. When I ask for a contract, they threaten to terminate my service and send me home on a final-exit visa (obviously without a no-objection certificate). I have a family back home that relies on my remittances. I have been offered a better job and I want to leave my current employer. Is there any way out of this situation; do employers simply have this power over the foreign workers?

As long as this unfortunate NOC (no-objection-certificate) requirement is with our consulates abroad, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. You will have to leave and wait a year before you return. There is a big problem with employees who do not carefully review these terms and conditions. The best way to avoid this is to pre-empt this possibility by reviewing the terms of any contract you sign, and to specifically request a contractual clause that says your sponsor agrees to provide a no-objection certificate as a reward for completing the terms of your contract should you prove yourself worthy enough to be offered a better job. You can also request the employer to pay for the Iqama transfer, or offer to pay for it yourself in return for this contractual clause. This is a bargaining process and getting this clause in a contract will legally bind your employer not to play mischief by using the NOC as a coercive strategy.
 

N.P.D. I am a 33-year-old Indian living in Riyadh with my family. I was hired locally in October 1997; this is my eleventh year of service at the company with no contract. Due to extenuating circumstances I have resigned with the requisite 30-day notice. I need help calculating my end-of-service-benefits. My basic salary is SR2,500, added to that a SR250 food allowance, a SR300 transport allowance and a SR625 housing subsidy. Also: Am I entitled to an NOC and a service certificate?

First, the easy answer: No, your employer is not legally bound to provide you an NOC, but you have a right to the service certificate to prove your tenure at the company. Secondly, don’t say you have been working without a contract. If you haven’t agreed to a contract directly with your employer, you are provided a “floor” of contractual terms under the Saudi labor laws and regulations. It’s called an unspecified period contract.

Your total monthly salary is SR3,675. You get half of that for each of the first five years of your employment there. You get a full month’s salary for each of the remaining full years. And for any extra days that do not comprise a full year, you simply calculate your daily salary (your annual salary divided by 365) and add that to the final sum. I came up with SR31,237.50 for eleven full years of service (no extra days) at a total last monthly salary of SR3,675. Remember that the total monthly wage is your latest monthly wage. If you get a raise, that is included in the total ESB calculation for the whole time you have worked.


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