RIYADH — Labor court in Riyadh received a delegation from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), headed by the confederation's general secretary Sharan Burrow. The delegation toured the court and got introduced to its digitized processes and procedures. They visited clients' services office, unified translation center and labor research office inside the court. The visitors were also introduced to labor judiciary specialties and how this judiciary will reflect on work environment and help minimize labor disputes. The delegation discussed with the court staff the role of the court in raising legal awareness and rights of both employers and workers, the types of legal guarantees offered to workers through a digitally connected system. Burrow expressed her appreciation of the workflow inside the court and how it created ease for clients. "The court has a strong technology base that allows transparency, which is very impressive," she said. The link with enforcement courts is also critical and impressive as not so many countries have that." Labor courts in Saudi Arabia were launched in November 2018 as part of the legal reforms plan, which the Kingdom is following in recent years. Focusing on specialized judiciary through the introduction of labor courts, and prior to that the commercial courts, as well as optimizing the use of technology and digital transformation to boost legal services. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice said Saudi labor courts this year held over 86,000 hearings, an average of 524 hearings per day. According to statistics released by the ministry, the Riyadh region topped the list with 27,953 hearings, followed by Makkah with 17,721 hearings, the Eastern Province with 17,082 hearings and Madinah with 8,095 hearings. Labor court regulations have set time frames for amicable settlement of cases governed by the Labor Law, cases related to domestic workers, and complaints against the General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI). If no amicable settlement is reached within 21 days, the Ministry of Labor and Social Development will electronically transfer the case to the labor court. The ministry has adopted an electronic framework for labor justice, setting an example to other courts to follow.
