FOREIGN workers are advised not to sign new work contracts upon their arrival in Saudi Arabia without verifying the new terms with their respective embassies, said Rolando Coquia, Welfare Officer of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO), Philippine Embassy in Riyadh. This tactic, called contract substitution, is often resorted to by employers to reduce the salary that was signed and agreed upon in the original work contract and to increase the duration of the contract – usually from two years to three years. “Contract substitution is widely imposed by employers and is always to the disadvantage of expatriate workers,” Coquia said at an open forum attended by blue collar Filipino workers. The forum was organized by the Filipino Overseas Workers Association (FOWA) recently. He said that once the substituted contract is signed by the worker, it supersedes the original work contract signed by the worker upon his recruitment in his country. “Saudi labor laws recognize the new substituted contract. So if you file a labor case against your employer citing a claim that your salary was reduced and the duration of your contract extended, the labor court will pass its ruling based on the substituted contract,” Coquia said. Contract substitution is a major violation by employers and foreign embassies are working towards protecting their newly deployed workers who fall victims to such tactics. Victims of contract substitution are mostly workers from Asian countries like the Philippines and India. New entrants in the Saudi labor market, like workers from Nepal, agree to low salaries and a work contract of three years, thus satisfying their Saudi employers. However, this is unlikely with workers from Philippines or India, where the placement agencies have set requirements and terms of recruitment. Deploying countries, which usually assume that employers will honor the terms of the original contract, are unable to protect their workers once they (the workers) sign the substituted contract. Diplomats from these countries have been suggesting the signing of a bilateral labor agreement with the Kingdom providing, among other terms, the banning and non-recognition of substituted contract and that the original work contract must prevail in case of employee-employer dispute. Newly arrived workers are often forced to sign the new contract under intimidations and threats of deportation. “In any such case, foreign workers must first seek the assistance of their respective embassies. This is the first line of protection against the rampant tactic of contract substitution,” Coquia said at the forum. __
