The Saudi Human Resources Development Fund will partly subsidize the paychecks of Saudi prisoners who are hired for jobs by the Prison Authority while they are incarcerated. Mohammad Abou Dheeb, Director of the Public Employment Department at the Human Resources Development Fund, said that the Fund will also subsidize public servants who had been dismissed from their jobs by court orders, as per Civil Service regulations. Abou Dheeb said the Fund would pay half of the individual salaries of inmates employed by prisons, according to the new bylaws on the employment of inmates, provided that that amount does not exceed SR1,000 a month. He said that although regulations have set a maximum subsidy time frame for two years, if an inmate continues on the job after serving his term, and his salary is adjusted in agreement with his employer, the Fund will continue to pay half of his salary for one more year after the date of his release. He added that in this case, the monthly subsidy will max out at SR2,000 as per the law. Abou Dheeb said that the Fund will dedicate an annual award to businesses which succeed in employing and retaining the largest number of Saudis. Only businesses that benefit from the Fund's subsidies and achieve the targeted Saudization percentages endorsed by the Ministry of Labor will be eligible for the award, he added. Also, nominated establishments should register a minimum retention of native labor of 75 percent of the subsidized employees in the year of nomination, and must have hired at least 50 job seekers in the same year. __
