Job Discussion Forums

[desertmonkey]

Stuck in Jeddah

I arrived in Jeddah Saudi Arabia Septemebr 2006 to teach Computer Studies at Manarat International School.

In February I was told I would need to transfer to Riyadh. I explained to the school I would consider going to Riyadh but they would need to first:

1. To arrange accommodation for me in Riyadh.
2. Reimburse my Iqama fees of 750 riyals
3. Reimburse my Family Iqmah fees of 2000 riyals
4. Reimburse my family medical expenses
5. Provide medical cards for my family (wife and daughter)

I was told by the head of the administration for the Jeddah Region that I could sleep in the streets, the mosque or a nice shopping mall in Riyadh. Now taking in to account I was acting head of department in my old school and my wife is a qualified medical Doctor who both of us gave up our jobs to come out to the Kingdom were slightly dismayed and shocked.

I contacted the schools administration more than a dozen times regarding my family medical cards by phone and in writing and received no response. Without medical cards I had to rush my wife to the hospital on one occasion when she was unwell with a suspected PE (potentially life threatening) and pay more than 1000 riyals out of my pocket.

Now since February the school has not paid me my salary (3 months now), are holding my passport, refusing to reimburse me my expenses and provide medical cards. I cannot leave the country and at the same time not being paid a single penny.

As a desperate last resort I have had to take the school to the labour court, I have had two hearings so far and have another one soon. However only yesterday have been informed that the whole labour court process may take another three months. I have contacted the British Embassy a few times but they have not been helpful.

If any one can be of assistance or can help me publisce my situation I would be most grateful. Please remember me in your prayers, I would be happy to hear if any one has had similar experiences in Saudi?

I can be emailed at [email protected]

Thanks for reading.

[Van Norden]

So sorry to hear this desertmonkey. It goes to show how precarious it can be here; the restrictive lifestyle and potential pitfalls can be weathered and largely avoided provided your employer takes care of you and you don't run into trouble.

I don't know how I/we can help you. If you gave us a phone or email contact we could let them know their dirty tricks are not so secret. But they probably don't care and it might just make things worse.

Have you contacted your embassy?

[desertmonkey]

I'm looking for a lawyer who could represent me for little or no money. Or someone who has had experience at the labour court. Or idealy someone who knows an influential person/ Prince I could speak to.

Forgot to mention the Gentleman who was doing the Computer Studies job before me, ran back to Britain after only two months.

I have a MA Education, PGCE Information Systems and BSC Information Systems.

I have had 7 years of successful teaching experience.

For 8,400 a month -- which they havent paid for 3 months. So you can guess Im pretty upset

[trapezius]

So sorry to hear about your situation, but -- unfortunately -- welcome to Saudi Arabia (meaning, this is not out of the ordinary here).

I would suggest sending letters to Arab News and Saudi Gazette explaining your scenario just like you have done here.

BTW, with a PGCE and a first degree (and an MEd), you could have gotten a nice cushy job at either of the two British schools in Jeddah (~SR 12,000 base, with tickets, health insurance, nice furnished housing), or even at the American school here. Why did you have to go to Manarat, esp since you left the UK on your own, and didn't just have to accept any job thrown at you?

Anyway, sorry again, but as I said, this is the norm. I will contact some people and see if I can get you a lawyer, but I can't promise anything.

I am in Jeddah, and could come see you and your family just to provide some sympathy and take your mind off of it, and I love kids! Send me your contact info (phone, address) if you wish.

Anyway, good luck, and I will see what I can do.

[running dog]

Like other posters, I'd like to convey my sympathy for your plight but also thank you for putting it up for all to see. No idea how many teflers read this board, but if you name and shame these gangsters, it might just dry up their future human resources potential.

[Van Norden]

What's your main priority now; getting compensation or being 'allowed' to leave the country?

Are you still going to work?

[scot47]

You have to face reality. What do you expect to gain ? Do you really believe that a vistory in the Labour Court would give you enough to compensate for what you have lost ? Foreigners do not win in legal battles against Saudi citizens.

I would advise you to go back from whence you came.

Forget Saudi Arabia and your awful experiences with Manarat Schools. Remeber it was established by the Islamic Brotherhhood !

[cassava]

I tend to agree with Scot 47 on this topic. If you happen to have an unscrupulous employer and you have no wasta, you can be nailed to the wall by the Saudis. Desertmonkey, you are better off cutting your costs and going back home.

If you can find a good international lawyer to take your case, you might obtain some positive results. However, I have my doubts. Furthermore, embassies and consular offices are usually reluctant to get involved in this kind of situation. Even when their nationals are murdered abroad, some embassies, unwilling to rock the boat, do little or nothing to seek redress. The French and Canadian embassies are notorious in this respect. I don't know how the UK embassy usually reacts.

Finally, be very careful in dealing with the Saudi bureaucracy. The case of Sandy Mitchell (Brit) and William Sampson (Brit/Canadian) who were framed for the murder of Christopher Rodway (Brit) in an alleged liquor turf war is relevant here. Mitchell and Sampson were thrown in jail and almost beaten to death, although the case against them was quite superficial.

So then, desertmonkey, while you seek redress, also make plans to flee, and above all, watch your back. Good luck.

[flying carpet]

I think you might be able to get a replacement passport at the British Embassy, if you tell them you have lost yours, which in effect is true, since you do not know where it is, or how to get it.

Maybe you could go to the new school (i am sure you have considered this already) and then try to get the passport off the different administration there, and then go...

Possibly alert others at TEFLwatch.org

It sounds terrible. Please let us know what happens in the end.

[Cleopatra]

[Arab Strap]

Flying Carpet or whatever, please butt out, you don't know what you are talking about.....................this is a serious issue.

I was in a similar situation 4 years ago and I decided to cut my losses.

I hadn't been paid for 3 months.

The school (sic) wouldn't allow me to bring my wife and child to KSA.

The accommodation allowance was withheld. I ended up spending 3 months on another teacher's floor.

And so on and so on.

I had done nothing to deserve this.

I managed to presuade them that I needed my passport to go to a company training in Dubai and I got out..................relieved but well out of pocket.

Funny thing is that I returned to KSA and on a visit to my old school I met the owner, actually in the carpark just exiting his new Porche Carerra.

I asked him for the money he owed me and he just gave me a look of 'as if habibi......'

Good luck sir, but seems to me you should get out asap.

That all depends on them giving you your passport and exit visa.

Could you not just get sacked/fired?

Do something outrageous, yet not illegal in the classroom (you don't want to get arrested)..............something that gives them no choice other than to fire you. I've heard of a teacher stripping off and another performing a fake marriage with his students, both of them found themselves quicky on the causeway to Bahrain!

[Stephen Jones]

If you've been working for the last three months and they haven't paid you, you've got a more or less cut-and-dried case.

When I was at Manarat ar-Riyadh there was an Indian librarian they fired and refused to pay because they held him responsible for another teacher's debts. He declined to go to the labour court because he didn't want to 'make trouble'; after eight months of being sent from pillar to post he changed his mind and got all he was owed.

I presume in your case there is some problem with the high-ups in the Foundation that is officially in control. Manarat normally paid people what was their due, including ESB, so there must be some kind of argument here, and the people in Jeddah are afraid of making payment without the nod from higher up.

What you need to do is get a lawyer, sign the paperwork giving him the right to represent you and then go home and wait. He will take a certain proportion of your award (I would suspect around SR3-4000 if it is a straightforward case) and may ask for a few hundred up front for the initial meeting with you.

The British Consulate has a list of lawyers who speak English, so get the list from them. If Manarat are refusing to give you an exit visa, then you must get the Consulate to apply pressure. Unless Manarat have a legal claim against you they can't do refuse you an exit visa.

Despite what the doomsayers on this thread are saying it is very common for expatriate workers to win awards against Saudi employers (much more common than the reverse). The problem is the amount of trouble in waiting for the decision. You are going to get an award sufficiently large to compensate the lawyer and still leave most over for you, so, presuming what you have told us is correct, stick to your guns.

[007]

I think it will depends on your contract, and you have to read and interpret very well what is written in the contract's clauses.
Most of the employers in Saudi Arabia do not pay for iqama fees, and provide medical services with government hospitals, now if you have used private hospitals instead of government, they may refuse to reimburse you! Check your contract!

The other option is to make an appointment to see the Emir (prince) of Jeddah and explain your case to him, he might help you if you have a strong case.

In the mean time, and if your wife is not working, it would be better for you to apply for a final exit visa for her and you daughter (you employer has no right to hold their passports) and send them back to UK, at least to save some money while you are here in SA.

[Stephen Jones]

I'll repeat what I said before to SinJ. See a lawyer.
Apart from anything else we have no idea what is in your contract or what the actual bone of contention between you and your employer is.

It never ceases to amaze me that people never dream of using an internet forum to get advice on treating pneumonia or malaria, but would go straight to a doctor, yet avoid going to a lawyer when they have the legal equivalent of necrotizing fasciitis.

[scot47]

flying carpet clearly does not have a clue about daily reality in KSA. Where is he ? In Cheltenham ? Certainly not in Saudi Arabia !