JEDDAH: The Ministry of Labor issued Saturday warnings to Saudis over the irregular use of their names by ‘deceitful' companies trying to meet the quota set for the employment of Saudi nationals The ministry said it would provide a website for Saudi nationals to check their status with the ministry to protect themselves from exploitation. Qusay Al-Filali, head of the Labor Office in Jeddah, said that the issue was a ‘headache' for his department as companies register the names of Saudi nationals, often without their knowledge, in order to obtain certification of the Saudization quota requirement before work visas are approved for them. The quota, which allocates a percentage of jobs for Saudi nationals, varies between sectors, from five to 20 percent of a company's workforce. Some companies have routinely skirted this quota through falsified paperwork and temporary Saudi hires. Sources have said that the Ministry of Labor officials had concluded a study on new procedures to stop the exploitation of the names of Saudis in the deceitful companies. The Ministry of Labor and the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI) are considering raising fines and banning foreign recruitment permanently for companies found with “phantom” Saudi employees on their books, the sources said. “The only way for us to verify these names is to actually send our inspectors out to the companies,” Al-Filali said. Saudis are frequently taken aback at the GOSI to find out that they've been registered as long-term employees at various companies. “I went to the social insurance office after I lost my job, and there I found out that I'd apparently been working for the last three years at some company I'd never heard of,” said Muhammad Madkhali. “I registered an official complaint against the company,” he added. Saudi national Hassan Al-Zubaidi said he found that his name had been illegally used for five years and it was claimed that he was a full-time receptionist at a furnished apartment complex. The GOSI is responsible for verifying fraudulent cases of Saudis registered with private companies, a human rights consultant said. “It is considered forgery punishable by the law to provide any false information to obtain certification of meeting the quota set for the employment of Saudi nationals,” said Omar Al-Khouli, a consultant at the Human Rights Commission.
