MOL blocks services to 138 big companies The Ministry of Labor (MOL) has blocked its online system linking 138 big companies with more than 3,000 employees because of their failure to apply the provisions of the wage protection program, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. The ministry said it will take a similar action against private schools that failed to implement the program from next week. “There will be no exemption for any school based on size or strength,” SPA said quoting a ministry source. The ministry started implementing the program’s first phase, which is applicable to companies with more than 3,000 employees on June 2. The ministry had said it would apply the program in seven phases, starting with big companies, then private establishments and finally all workers in the Kingdom. Under the program, all major companies were required to register information relating to their payroll using the ministry’s e-services by Sept. 1. The ministry started implementing the second phase of the program on Dec. 1. Companies with more than 1,000 employees are targeted in the second phase. Employers in each phase are given three months to register their data, said the ministry source, adding that the program is expected to complete the process by the end of the first quarter of 2015. Minister of Labor Adel Fakieh said the ministry was serious in ensuring strict implementation of the program. He noted that the ministry started taking penal actions, including halting of all ministry services except the issuance and renewal of work permits against companies that failed to provide the data two months after the enforcement of the program. The ministry is supposed to stop all its services to companies that failed to implement the provisions of the program within three months from Sept. 1. The action against 138 big companies follows the expiry of the three-month period, the minister said. According to Fakieh, employees at these companies will be allowed to transfer their services to any other firms without prior consent. “The program aims to guarantee that Saudi and non-Saudi employees working in the private sector are paid their full wages on time,” he said, adding that this did not mean that the ministry was interfering in fixing of wages in the private sector. The minister said the program aims to create a better work environment by addressing the problems related to non-payment or delay of salaries and allowances. Soon after the implementation of the program, inspectors from the ministry swung into action through field tours and online monitoring to force employers to abide by the regulations.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Dec 2013 05:40:03 +0000
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