The Labor Office in Jeddah is investigating claims from a Saudi citizen that he was sacked unfairly by a foreign mining company operating in the country. The company has until Nov. 15 to respond to the allegations. Sameer Khaiyat, the Saudi citizen, claims that the company owes him SR100,000 in unpaid dues. He is also seeking SR5 million for mental and physical damages caused by his alleged “arbitrary sacking that came without warning”. Khaiyat also accuses the company of not paying him an allowance paid to all employees in 2009. The company is also at fault for not giving him a contract when he was employed, he said. Khaiyat, who worked at the company as a public relations director, said that his repeated requests resulted in a contract that was signed a year after he joined the company. The contract stipulated a salary of SR35,000, with SR3,000 as a transportation allowance and 25 percent of the basic salary as accommodation allowance. The contract ends in June 2012, the man said, but the company arbitrarily ended his services early. The company said it would take some time to respond to the allegations but added it had observed all relevant labor procedures. Khaiyat has also filed complaints with the Minister of Labor and Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in which he said the company had informed him that he was being sacked with payment of SR200,000 for his efforts. “But I only received SR100,000 and was told I would receive the rest in June 2012 without any convincing explanation,” Khaiyat said. __
