In southern Saudi Arabia, the Court of Appeal awarded SR180,000 to an expatriate employer who was terminated without a valid reason and reported absconding, depriving him of his salary dues and end-of-service benefits.
A First Instance Court had rejected the employee's lawsuit earlier, so he approached the Court of Appeal. According to the Court of Appeal, the employer sacked the employee without any valid reason and then filed a malicious report with the Labor Office claiming that he had absconded with the intent of harming him and depriving him of his salary dues and allowances. In addition to lawyer's fees, the court ordered the employer to pay compensation for the employee's damages, including his expenses, the expenses of his family, and the house rent during the period after termination.
Sources informed Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the compensation decision came after an administrative appeals court issued a similar ruling that obligated the employer to pay the plaintiff all salary dues for the remainder of his contract period after sacking him without cause.
Earlier, the employee approached the First Instance Court, seeking SR1 million in compensation for the harm caused to him due to the termination from his job eight months before the expiry of his contract period, and reported him running away from work in order to be deprived of his salary dues and allowances.
After the court dismissed the lawsuit, he appealed to the Administrative Court of Appeal. In his lawsuit, the employee pleaded that he was sacked in violation of Article 77 of the Labor Law, eight months before the expiry of the labor contract, and that not only did the employer refuse to transfer his employment, but also absconded with the intent of depriving him of salary dues and allowances. As a result of finding that the employer's report to the Labor Office was malicious against the employee, the Administrative Court of Appeal revoked the report.
Since the employer filed the malicious absence report, the plaintiff has been unemployed and unable to transfer sponsorship or renew his residency permit (iqama) for 22 months. As a result, he and his family suffered material, moral, and psychological damage. His daughter, who was studying outside the Kingdom, was unable to reenter the Kingdom due to her iqama expiring.
