Expat ‘waiting one year’ for final dues

RIYADH: A Filipino worker claims that he has been waiting for over a year for his former company to pay him SR68,880, which is his end-of-service benefit after leaving the company last November and returning home.
Bukhari Nor Cali, 59, from Mindanao, wrote a letter to Arab News recently, saying that he left his company, a travel agency, in November last year on a final exit after working there for nine years. He submitted his resignation on Aug. 16, two months before his contract ended on Oct. 15, 2014.
Now he is sick, has had a gall operation, suffers from hypertension and had two strokes. He needs the money for his medical bills and retirement because he has no other source of income.
He alleged that the company’s officials had promised to pay the money into his account but failed to do so. He has laid a complaint with the Kingdom’s embassy in Manila, but claims nothing has been done to help him.
When he resigned he postponed his trip home in the hope his money would be paid. “When my departure was postponed again, the landlord called the police to forcefully eject me from his flat, leaving me with no option but to move to a low-cost hotel.”
“My plight worsened when the agency head traveled to America without settling my dues. He refused to advise his offices to release the end-of-service amount.”
He said the new accountant finally arrived on Nov. 16, 2014, while the agency’s owner was still in America. He was again promised his money, but this did not occur, he said.