JEDDAH — The labor court in Jeddah retracted its earlier verdict over the payment of compensation to a former employee of a charity endowment. In its new verdict, the court ordered the firm to pay SR40,000 to the employee instead of SR440,000 that the court had ordered to pay in its previous verdict, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from the court sources. In its first ruling, the court ordered the employer to give the employee, who worked as an accountant, to give SR440,000 as dues owed to the employee. These included an amount of SR14,000 toward remuneration for leave balances; SR16,000 for the end of service allowance, and SR400,000 in compensation for the damage caused by the termination of service after the completion of only two years of service in violation of the provisions of the contract that was valid for five years. The verdict also covered the amount of the legally determined end of service gratuity. The court reexamined the case after the owner of the endowment pleaded the court to reexamine the case, saying that the verdict was based on baseless facts submitted by the plaintiff. The court noted that the owner of the endowment did not avail the opportunity of filing an appeal against the judgment within the stipulated 30 days. On the other hand, he submitted a memorandum at a later time requesting the court to reexamine the judgment, and hence the labor court judge decided to accept it. The lawyer of the defendant pleaded in the court that the complainant failed to present true facts in the court. He countered the arguments saying that the employee had not been terminated from service and rather it was he who requested the termination of his contract after his refusal to work on a reduced amount of salary. The defendant also claimed that he did not inflict any harm on the employee as the latter is able to continue working after transferring his service at the end of his employment with the establishment and therefore he is not entitled to have any compensation in the name of purported damage caused to him. The lawyer of the endowment firm also drew attention to the fact that the employee is entitled to get only an allowance that amounted to SR40,000 and requested to waive off all other compensations ordered in the earlier verdict. In the new verdict, the court rejected the claims of the plaintiff that he had suffered material and emotional harm and was entitled to the amount of compensation awarded to him in the previous judgment. At the end of several sessions, the court decided to retract its earlier verdict by writing off the previously decided compensation amounting to SR440,000 and ruled to grant SR40,000. The court noted that it has been proven no harm was done to the employee by the endowment establishment.
