Saudi Arabia clarifies payment of allowances to workers
In recent years, authorities have sought to bolster job market competitiveness
Cairo: Saudi labour authorities have said that payment of allowances depends on the employment contract.
“Specifying the pay and allowances is subjected to an agreement reached between the two parties per se the work contract or the bylaws of the employing establishment,” the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources said.
The ministry’s clarification was in response to a query from an employee who said he has been working at an unspecified company for nine years without getting a rise in allowances or salary.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia, home to a large community of expat workers, has sought to regulate its job market, and boost its attractiveness and competitiveness.
Two jobs
Last November, Saudi labour authorities said a private sector worker in Saudi Arabia can do two jobs at the same time.
The authorities noted at the time that in such a case, the worker’s employment contract and bylaws of the employing establishment should be checked to ensure they do not have a term proscribing keeping two jobs.
Also last year, the Ministry of Human Resources unveiled an authentication plan via its Qiwa platform obligating private sector institutions to document 20 per cent of their employees’ contracts in the first quarter of 2023, 50 per cent in the second half, and 80 per cent in the third quarter.
The plan is designed to preserve rights of parties to the contractual relationship, and provide a stable labour environment conducive for the employee’s productivity increase and boosting the job market in the kingdom.
In 2020, Saudi Arabia introduced major labour reforms, drastically improving its sponsorship system.
The reforms, which went into effect in the ensuing year, allow job mobility and regulate the exit and re-entry visa issuance for expatriate workers without employers’ approval.
Employee mobility allows expatriate workers to transfer among employers upon the expiry of the binding work contract without the employer’s consent.
The exit and re-entry visa reforms, meanwhile, allow expatriate workers to travel outside Saudi Arabia without the employers’ approval after submitting a request.