The Human Rights Commission in the Eastern Province is investigating the case of seven Saudi employees who were fired by a company that rents petroleum machinery. The men said they are facing serious hardships because the termination decisions were unfair and it will take a long time to address the matter. The men said they were on vacations as permitted by the regulations, but parts of their vacations were counted as absence from work. This led an expatriate manager to issue warnings that describe the sacked employees as “illegal.” Four workers were fired on one day and the rest at other different times. The Human Rights Commission looked into the case in its first session at the Labor Office in Dammam and referred it to the Appeals Commission. The workers who lost their jobs said a lawyer told them in the session that the decisions were based on the three paragraphs of Article 74 of the Labor Law. Hassan Abbas, one of the workers who lost his job, said, “We asked the company's lawyer to put the reasons before the Labor Office representative. He said Article 74 permits the company's action.” He pointed out that the lawyer said the men have rights to get their entitlements from the company. The Human Rights Commission lawyer said the regulations cited did not apply to the men's cases. “Article 74 of the Labor Law does not accept the company's justification,” he said. “It must clarify the reasons for terminating the employees and provide supporting documents that confirm that the decisions are correct and lawful.” The workers stressed that the decisions to sack them were arbitrary. They said the Labor Office referring the case to the Appeals Commission to look into it and issue a verdict would hurt them financially because it would be four months before the Appeals Commission looks into their cases. Muhammad Al-Attawi, one of the men who were fired, said, “This would be too long for us, especially since we will not be getting our entitlements because we have filed a lawsuit against the company.” He pointed out that their families would be facing problems especially since it is Ramadan. “The Saudi families spend a lot during the holy month of Ramadan and on Eid Al-Fitr and we have children and it is not reasonable to hold the session after such a long time,” he said. The men said their families are living in great anxiety because their breadwinners lost their jobs. They added that the company provided no clear reasons for the decisions, which came after it had employed most of the men for several years. The employee with the shortest tenure had worked for the company for two years, they added.
