The Human Rights Commission (HRC) has asked the authorities at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah to rectify the contracts of 1,200 female and male employees because they violate the Kingdom's labor law. As a result of the employees seeking the help of the HRC in restoring their job rights, the Commission sent a letter to the university indicating that the contracts signed by these employees largely contradict the Kingdom's labor law enforced by the private sector and some government agencies. In its letter, the HRC said it had thoroughly studied these contracts and found that they did not include several of the advantages and benefits defined by the law. The contracts, for example, did not include any end-of-service benefits, annual increments, allowances and incentives and were merely temporary contracts renewed every six months. The HRC asked the university authorities to rewrite these contracts to comply with the Kingdom's labor law. According to Khaled Halwani, the plaintiffs' lawyer, the contracts flagrantly violate the labor law. In the lawsuit he filed against the university at the Labor Office in Jeddah, he asked for compensating Saudi and expatriate employees for the money they paid for renewing their Iqamas. He pointed out that the preliminary committee at the Labor Office would look into this part of the case pointing out that the university had received directives from higher authorities to offer these employees permanent jobs, but that it had not carried out these directives. Halwani said there is an article in the labor law applied by the Ministry of Labor which stipulates that any condition not included in the labor law and added by the employer to the contract on his own nullifies the contract. He said these clauses added by the university in the contracts violate the labor law.
