Saudi authorities settle dues worth SAR5.7m owed to 134 expats

Officials in the Saudi city of Al Khobar have settled the claims of 134 expatriate workers who were owed SAR5.7m by their employer, local media reported.

The claims were settled by the department of Friendly Settlement at the labour office in Al Khobar in the Eastern Province this month, Saudi Gazette reported.

The expatriates were all working for a single establishment that failed to pay their dues.

The labour claims were settled after both the parties managed to reconcile their differences, the report said.

Among the expatriates, Indian nationals – accounting for the largest group – received over SAR4.5m.

Nationals from Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also received the overdue amounts, the report added.

Director of the labour office in Al Khobar, Mansour Al-Bin Ali, said they were “keen to end all labour issues as soon as possible”.

As part of a new mechanism announced by the Saudi Justice ministry last year, labour offices across the kingdom have a timeframe of 21 days to amicably settle disputes.

If no settlement is reached within that period, labour offices have to electronically submit the case to the labour courts, the Saudi Gazette report stated.

Following a slump in the kingdom’s construction sector, hundreds of thousands of workers were left with unpaid dues over the last few years.

In 2016, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman allocated SAR100m and issued a series of directives with the intention of resolving all cases of unpaid salaries in the kingdom.

Under the system, companies will not be paid for their work by the government until the ministry of Labour confirms that workers’ salaries have been paid on time.

The SAR 100m fund will be deposited in the Saudi Arab Fund with the intention of deducting any costs related to resolving the issue from violating firms’ accounts.