The Ministry of Labor cannot shut down lingerie shops failing to employ Saudi women to replace male workers. “This is the responsibility of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the region's mayoralties,” said Hattab Al-Enezi, spokesman of the Ministry of Labor. The official was quoted by Al-Riyadh Arabic daily as saying that the role of the Ministry of Labor was to inform the two responsible parties of any violations and to cease any computer services it offers to a company violating the rules. He said the ministry has no statistics on the number of lingerie shops which have been shut down since the enforcement of the Royal Decree. The ministry will announce this when it obtains the necessary information, he said. He said the minimum monthly salary of Saudi women working in these shops is SR3,000, of which the Human Resources Development Fund pays 50 percent. He said the ministry organizes and pays for training courses for Saudi female jobseekers who are interested in working in the field. Meanwhile, officials at the Ministry of Labor told Asharq Al-Awsat that the ministry last year imposed SR13 million as fines on business owners who employed runaway workers. This comes at a time when some government agencies have criticized the Labor Ministry's rules governing the employment of foreign workers, arguing that these rules were too lenient and encouraging foreign workers to abandon their employers. In response to these allegations, Al-Enezi referred to the ministerial decision stipulating that any individual or establishment hiring a fleeing foreign worker will be deprived of recruitment for a period of two years. In addition, another rule punishes violators, individuals or establishments, from recruiting workers for a period of five years if they are found to be involved in trading in work visas or hiring out the services of their employees to other parties. In case of repeat violations, the ministry is empowered to issue a decision to deprive them of all privileges for good. Despite Al-Enezi's assurances, Saad Al-Badah, Chairman of the Saudi National Committee for Recruitment, argues that the ministry should be held accountable for the spread of this phenomenon because of the loopholes in rules and lack of effective deterrent penalties. He said the problem also lies with Saudi citizens employing runaway workers. There was a pressing need, he said, to promulgate tougher rules including publicly naming-and-shaming citizens employing such workers. “Legislators should also produce a law that makes it mandatory for violating citizens to compensate affected individuals or companies by paying them the recruitment and visa fees of the runaway workers. These workers should be investigated to determine who employed them. They should also be imprisoned as stipulated by the Ministry of Interior.”
