Saudi Arabia clamps down on law-breaking labour agencies

Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s labour authorities have revoked licences of several recruitment offices for breaching the kingdom’s work codes as part of a clampdown on law-breaking agencies, Saudi media reported.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development decided to withdraw licences of nine recruitment offices and suspend work of 17 others for two months after they were found violating labour laws in the past two months, Okaz newspaper said.

The move was part of the ministry’s monitoring of the labour recruitment sector to ensure compliance with codes aimed to preserve rights of employeers and employees as well as to resolve potential disputes among parties to contractual relationship.

The ministry urged members of the public to report violations related to labour recruitment by calling hotline 19911 or its smartphone apps.

Saudi Arabia hosts a large community of migrant workers.