Legal investigators from the Ministry of Labor have been tasked with solving labor disputes on-site in a bid to increase speed and efficiency in the settling of differences. The move from sessions at labor offices to on-site meetings aims to reduce overcrowding at the labor offices and cut the length of proceedings in cases. Some cases linger on for more than two years mostly due to the non-apperance of company representatives at the hearings. Ousai Filali, Director of Makkah Labor Office, said that once a complaint by an employee against a company is received, investigators are sent to the premises to meet with the company head. If the complaint is found to be valid, statements are taken from the disputing parties onsite where the case is then followed up. In the first half of this year, 5,105 cases were submitted to the Ministry's Primary Commission, 1,915 of which involved Saudi citizens, a 27.5% increase on last year. Cases submitted by non-Saudis increased by 31.11%, with Egyptian nationals topping the list at 17.2% of all 35 nationalities included, followed by Indians, 10.9%, Pakistanis at 8.9%, Bangladeshis with 8.1% and the remaining 18.7% taken up by other nationalities. A total of 3,666 of the 5,105 labor dispute cases were successfully resolved. __
