A total of 163 employees sacked by a company contracted to the King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Jeddah, has filed a lawsuit with the Board of Grievances on Sunday alleging unfair dismissal. They called on the ministries of health and labor to intervene in their dispute. In a letter to the Directorate of Health Affairs, the Director of King Abdul Aziz Hospital, Dr. Muhammad Bakhsh, said there was an urgent need to have current employees cover staff shortages in some areas of the hospital until this situation of staff vacancies can be resolved by appointments approved by the Ministry of Health. Ali Al-Aqla, lawyer and legal adviser, argued that it was illegal to terminate the services of these employees, as stipulated by the regulations issued by the Ministry of Labor in terms of a royal decree. Al-Aqla said: “The arbitrary firing of employees by the operating company is a violation of regulations. The employees should be reinstated and compensated for the harm caused by the termination decision. Those affected should file a lawsuit against the company at the Labor Office, which would refer the case to the Committee for Resolving Labor Violations. The hospital has nothing to do with the case since it has a contract with the company.” A number of the fired hospital employees said the Directorate of Health Affairs in the governorate should intervene to solve the crisis and not to withdraw from the case. They said the dismissals have had a negative effect on the majority of employees. They claimed that work in all departments of the hospital has stopped following the decision to fire the employees. They said the decision created a situation where the current hospital staff has been unable to cover all the work required. They claimed further that the operating company fired all the Saudi employees and left the expatriate employees in their jobs. This was a violation of regulations of the Ministry of Labor and the Saudization program.
