MAKKAH — A construction company has sacked 37 employees, including Saudis, because they reportedly demanded payment of their monthly salaries that had been delayed for more than eight months. Local daily Al-Madina did not identify the company and said the employees complained to the labor office in Makkah but nothing has been done so far. The employees also complained of the bad work environment and treatment they received from the company's management. Unable to provide their families with their basic needs, many of the employees resorted to borrowing from relatives and friends. They asked for the immediate payment of their delayed salaries and other fringe benefits similar to the other private companies and establishments. The workers also wanted compensation for all the months they remained without payments and called for action to be taken against the company's owner. Talal Al-Harbe, a Saudi citizen who spoke on behalf of the employees, said their sufferings started about mid-2013 when the company began to delay paying salaries for about three months every time. “The company has violated the Kingdom's labor laws that call for paying the workers at the end of every month,” he said. Al-Harbe said the company started a slow retrenchment of the employees to reduce their number and avoid transmitting their salaries to their bank accounts through the Labor Ministry. He said 37 of them went to the labor office in Makkah on Feb. 10 where they filed an official complaint against the company. He said a preliminary labor committee held two meetings and issued an order to the company to pay the delayed salaries urgently. “No one from the company's management attended any of these meetings,” he added. Al-Harbe said they went to the Executive Court but were told that the decision of the labor office in their case was only preliminary and had to be made final and obligatory first. He said in the light of the numerous complaints against it, the company changed its first name and adopted a new name to avoid legal scrutiny. Al-Harbe also said the company moved its premises to the private villa of its owner in Al-Aziziyah District so that none of the unwanted employees could enter it without permission. The company's executive director Mohammed Al-Badrani refuted the workers' claims. He said: "We have evidence that the salaries were paid on time. We treat all our employees very nicely.” An official at the labor office refused to comment and said they have clear instructions from the ministry not to talk to the media. The newspaper also tried to speak to the ministry's spokesman in Riyadh but he refused to take its calls.
