Employers warned against filing false huroob reports

JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor confirmed on its labor guide that it will punish employers who make false huroob reports against expatriate workers.

The ministry stated that it will stop its services for 5 years to employers who play with the future of expatriate workers by manipulating huroob reports against them, according to a local media.
Many expatriate workers have suffered from false huroob reports. Some employers would make these huroob reports against their workers and ask them money for canceling the reports.
The private sector had been giving its workers two to three months to transfer their sponsorships to other employers, and when the workers failed to change their sponsorships within that period, their existing sponsors would make the huroob reports.
However, most foreign workers find it difficult to get new jobs or sponsors within two or three months. This naturally increases the number of huroob reports related to expatriate workers who are required to transfer their sponsorships to companies in the green zone under the Nitaqat program.
The ministry allows a change in the expatriate worker’s status under the system, especially one who has been unfairly slapped with a huroob report for remaining absent from work or awaiting transfer of his sponsorship.
The ministry, it is stated, will also allow the expatriate workers to transfer their sponsorships to others employers if their sponsors are found to have made false huroob reports.
The ministry will stop all services of the erring firm for one year, excepting renewal of licenses for employers who made false huroob reports for the first time. But the second time, such employers will be punished for three years. Those repeating the violations three times will face suspension of the ministry’s services for 5 years.
The Ministry of Labor had allowed expatriates to cancel fake huroob reports, but it would be difficult for them to prove that these reports, presented by their former sponsors, were based on fictitious grounds. In the past, companies used to send their representatives to the Labor Office to help foreign workers cancel huroob reports presented against them.