In a direct meeting organized by the Asharqia Chamber:
“Human Resources” affirms the unlawfulness of any arbitrary dismissal of any Saudi worker
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources, Social Development for Inspection and Development of the Work Environment, Sattam Al-Harbi, warned companies against dismissing the Saudi employee, under the justification of the Corona pandemic. He explained that the Kingdom’s government has provided a lot of incentives and support to the private sector, and the Ministry has issued a number of legislations that help establishments to balance their obligations During this crisis, and consequently, statutory penalties will be applied to infringing facilities that affect workers ’rights.
Al-Harbi, who was speaking on Saturday evening, May 9, 2020, during a symposium "Governmental Initiatives to Support Human Resources in the Private Sector" organized by the Eastern Chamber represented by the Trade Committee remotely and moderated by the Chairman of the Committee, Hani Al-Afaliq, said that the Ministry and other parties in the work system have launched more than 24 initiatives aimed at mitigating The effects of the crisis on establishments and individuals alike, including the initiative to protect the contractual relationship to protect the rights of workers in the labor market during this crisis, as well as giving flexibility to business owners to balance their obligations under this crisis, as well as the initiative to support enterprises affected by this crisis through Sanid Initiative to bear the salaries of 70% of Saudi workers, in addition to many other initiatives to facilitate facilities such as lifting the suspension of support for the payment of fines received for Zakat and Income Authority observations, suspension of penalties for wages protection violations, extending the deadline for payment of violations for more than 120 days, as well as implementation Exemption from financial compensation for expatriates whose residency expired from March 18 to June 30, 2020, in addition to many other support initiatives provided by the Development Bank.
Al-Harbi reviewed all of these initiatives, stressing that they provide systemic options for workers to agree upon before resorting to force majeure, as employers and workers alike benefit from them, all to mitigate the economic effects of the precautionary measures taken by the state to combat the Coronavirus.
He stressed that the labor regulation by adding Article 41 to the executive regulations of the labor law and its explanatory note, has set requirements that the employer must follow before resorting to the use of the principle of force majeure, explaining that it is not permitted during the six months mentioned in that article for the employer to fire any Saudi worker, and will apply Regular penalties for infringing facilities, without prejudice to the right of affected workers to claim all their statutory rights, stressing that the current exceptional situation will be applied to exceptional penalties, revealing that the ministry continues to oversee the installations and granting priority to follow up on violations related to In the separation of the Saudis.
Al-Harbi also mentioned that the provisions of the work system are ongoing, whether by the usual way or by working remotely during the pandemic, where the employee is subject to the supervision and authority of the employer.
For this part, Director of Inspection and Collection in charge of the General Organization for Social Insurance, Ibrahim bin Youssef Al-Olayan, said that there is the support provided by the institution during the pandemic period through the "Sand" program, for a period of 3 months, with compensation amounting to 60% of the average wages subject to participation for the last 24 months, "which directs For Saudis who have been unemployed due to the crisis, provided that they have not joined another activity and have not reached the legal age due for insurance salaries, as well as participating in insurance.
He added that the small and medium enterprises get 100% support if the number of their Saudi employees is five or less and more than 5 Saudi employees are allowed for the establishment to submit an application for 70% of the number of participants who meet the conditions, and the establishment has the right to benefit from Article 41 provided by the Ministry of Human Resources, That allows them to reduce salaries and working hours for their remaining subscribers if the conditions of the article apply to them.
He pointed out that the "SANED" program had stipulated a 12-month subscription in normal circumstances, but in the current circumstances, four months were limited to the related periods by 1/1/2020.
As for the Deputy Director-General of the Human Resources Development Fund for Employment Support Ahmad bin Saud Al-Mujaysh, he confirmed the continuation of support to the facilities employed for Saudi youth, through the employment support program, which supports retroactively from 7/7/2019 and the application ends on Sunday 10/5/2020 where The fund reduced the minimum support amount from 4,000 riyals to 3200 riyals exceptionally for back-up support and the upper limit by 15,000 riyals by 30% and up to 50% or 3,000 riyals, whichever is less than the salary for 24 months with the program continuing to support enterprises in support of new employment Calling on institutions and companies that have not completed their procedures to quickly enter their accounts in Al-Rana You agree to the electronic agreement and enter the bank's IBAN number for the facility in order to disburse the support.
He said that some technical cases are subject to the necessary treatment, out of the Fund's keenness to continue support, to maintain the level of work in private sector institutions,
He added that the fund management has launched an initiative to support delivery through applications through the self-employment platform at 15 riyals per request and a maximum of 3000 riyals per month with a number of initiatives to support remote training through the Droub platform and provide a set of targeted training courses,
In an intervention by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Asharqia Chamber, Abdul Hakim bin Hamad Al-Ammar Al-Khaldi, he praised all government efforts in supporting private sector activity and supporting citizens in facing this pandemic ... stressing that the citizen and the private sector are in safe hands and that the next is better.
