Saudi Gazette report TABUK/RIYADH – A number of saleswomen and beneficiaries of the Ministry of Labor's drive to increase female employees have complained that they have little or no job security. They said they also face sexual harassment by young men and that employers automatically make salary deductions. Apart from this, they have to clean the shops in front of customers and said the management will not employ cleaners to carry out the task, Al-Watan reported Friday. Al-Watan toured one of the malls in Tabuk to get the opinions of the saleswomen. Suad, a saleswoman, said, “Women working as saleswomen have increased greatly in different establishments in the private sector. However, the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) has not paid me my salary for four months now. “An amount of SR250 is deducted from our salaries as a security deposit. I have come to know from one of the female sales representatives that she received her salary from the first month. “I'm in a quandary. I don't know if the delay in payment of salaries is due to the HRDF or the shop owner. “The work is tiresome especially for women and the salary is insufficient. For these reasons, I'm looking for another job because my job as a saleswoman is very tiresome and the management makes random deductions from our salaries.” In another development, an official source at the Ministry of Labor said it would begin implementing a strategy that will allow women to work from home. This strategy will target members of both sexes but it will target women first, as the rate of unemployment among women is higher than it is with men.
