RIYADH — The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development revealed that as many as one million workers have benefited from the initiative to improve the contractual relationship between employers and employees. The salient features of the initiative include freedom of job mobility, freedom of exit and reentry, and freedom of final exit. The ministry announced that the rate of labor disputes had decreased by 50 percent after launching of the initiative, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned. The initiative is part of the National Transformation Program 2020 that emanated from the Kingdom's Vision 2030. The initiative enabled making amendments in the Labor Law rules and regulations aimed at improving the contractual relationship between employers and workers. The initiative allows job mobility for expatriates, as well as improving the mechanisms of exit and reentry and final exit, which contributed to raising the attractiveness of the labor market, raising its competitiveness, and enhancing its attractiveness to highly skilled expatriate workers. It is noteworthy that the special rules for the expatriate worker to benefit from the initiative to improve the contractual relationship are applicable to professional workers subject to the Labor Law, and that the worker must have completed 12 months with the current employer after his first arrival in the Kingdom, and that the worker must be on the payroll, with no other requests existing to transfer the service of the worker to another employer. Moreover, the worker shall adhere to the notice period if there is a valid notarized employment contract. The ministry announced that the ministry's Amicable Settlement Initiative has brought about a qualitative shift in resolving labor issues, trying to bring points of view closer together, conducting the mediation process to resolve dispute, and trying to reach an amicable solution that satisfies both parties, if possible, or referring the case to the labor court within 21 days from the date of the first session via an integrated electronic system. The amicable settlement personnel were trained in all regions of the Kingdom, and this had a positive impact on the percentage of cases that were resolved amicably without resorting to the judiciary, as the rate of reconciliation in the amicable settlement has reached 77 percent.
