More than 60 workers at a factory owned by an Arab investor in Riyadh have lodged a case with the Labor Committee at the Ministry of Labor in Riyadh for non-payment of salaries for several months. The petitioners also accused their employer of tampering with the committee's decision. One petitioner said that four years ago, the investor provided him with a work visa to be employed as a sales representative. He claimed that he was not paid after one month in his job, but the employer insisted that he would not pay any employee before they worked for three months. He said that after three months, the employer came up with other explanations until the petitioner worked for 10 months and received no pay. The petitioner claimed that when the workers confronted their employer, he terrified them by threatening to use his influence and send them to jail. “He carried out his threat and sent some workers to jail and they remained there until they signed a document showing that they had received their salaries,” the petitioner said. “Of course, he made them sign under duress.” He said this left him no option but to lodge a case against the employer with the labor office in Riyadh and another one in his employer's home country. “After 12 days he took me by surprise by reporting to the security authorities that I escaped,” he said. “To my surprise, he has not handed over my passport to the immigration authorities. In spite of his arm-twisting policy, justice has taken its course at the labor office.” He said the investor used to send his representative to the labor office to adjourn the case, “but the committee at the labor office had referred the case to the preliminary committee which gave its verdict in my favor.” He believes the investor bought time by appealing the verdict. The preliminary court ordered the employer to transfer my sponsorship to another employer, but nothing happened although the decision had been made 28 months earlier. “Not only this, but also the employer did not give me back my passport, despite the repeated orders made by the preliminary committee,” the petitioner said. He said that he had come to learn that there were numerous other complaints against the investor, and that the labor office did not follow through on them. “To my surprise the workers have lodged more than 40 complaints with the labor office against the investor, but the labor office kept silent and did not take any action against the employer to force him to carry out the decisions it has made.” When the reporter approached the employer to address the matter, the employer categorically denied all allegations leveled by this worker, accusing him of making these claims when the employer refused to transfer his sponsorship.
