Saudi law bans frisking female workers without consent

Cairo: Sponsors in Saudi Arabia have no legal right to search a female worker without her consent, according to a legal expert.

“If the worker refused to be searched, the sponsor should head to the nearest police station and file an official report. The official procedure will be taken by the competent agency,” Mohammed Al Wehibi, a legal consultant, added.

He explained that Saudi law prohibits violating one's privacy.

Saudi regulations related to the employment of domestic labour also ban a labourer from working for other than her sponsor.

“The sponsor has no right to obligate the housemaid to work for any other person, who is not a member of the family and lives in the same house,” Al Wehibi told Saudia TV.

The expert pointed out that if a house worker caused damage to a house item, a maximum monthly cut equaling one-quarter of his/her wages can be made until the price is fully paid.

Saudi Arabia, a country of 32.2 million people, is home to a large community of migrant workers.

The kingdom last week unveiled new rules for employing domestic workers, setting the worker’s minimum age at 21 years as part of efforts to safeguard contractual rights and enhance the attractiveness of the labour market in the kingdom.

The new regulations, published in the kingdom’s Official Gazette, Umm Al Qura, note that contractual provisions between the employer and the worker are regulated according to a contract shaped by mandatory rules set by the Saudi Ministry of Human Resources, with the Arabic text to be the authorised version and translated into the official language understood by the worker in his/her home country.

The contract should have a fixed duration, and if not, it will be considered renewable for one year from the date of the worker doing the job.

The regulations enshrine essential elements in the contract including a job description for the worker, names, nationalities, residences, contact addresses of both parties to the contract, the employer’s official address, the dates of the contract signing and its validity.

According to the new rules, the house worker’s daily working hours are set at 10 hours and the employee is entitled to weekly paid successive 24-hour rest. Meanwhile, the employer bears the worker’s fees related to recruitment, job change, transfer of services, residency, work licence and relevant fines.

The employer is prohibited from keeping the domestic worker’s passport, other personal documents or belongings.