Job Discussion Forums

h-train · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:36 am Post subject: Overtime pay calculations

Hello everyone,
I have been in KSA for 3 months now and I haven't had any real problems thus far thankfully. One thing I would like to ask some of the more seasoned people on this board is about overtime. When I got paid for the hours worked, they had a weird calculation... I guess this was kind of expected. They took my base pay, divided it by 30 days, then divided this by 8 to get my "hourly rate." Then this number was multiplied by 1.5. It ends up being about what the regular hourly rate is if I figure it up myself. I was told this is my "American math" and it's done differently here in the Kingdom as we are paid for every day we're in the country. My coworker said his British maths calculates the same as mine... but that that is indeed how they do it here. Is this the real deal? Thanks.
H.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

We get a flat rate
150 SR an hour

Negotiating for 200

7atetan · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 12:21 pm Post subject: Re: Overtime pay calculations

[quote="h-train"]Hello everyone,
I have been in KSA for 3 months now and I haven't had any real problems thus far thankfully. One thing I would like to ask some of the more seasoned people on this board is about overtime. When I got paid for the hours worked, they had a weird calculation... I guess this was kind of expected. They took my base pay, divided it by 30 days, then divided this by 8 to get my "hourly rate." Then this number was multiplied by 1.5. It ends up being about what the regular hourly rate is if I figure it up myself. I was told this is my "American math" and it's done differently here in the Kingdom as we are paid for every day we're in the country. My coworker said his British maths calculates the same as mine... but that that is indeed how they do it here. Is this the real deal? Thanks.
H.[/quote]

Hm, so Saudi math == cheating.

Where I come from, one's salary is paid for the number of hours he or she works. So, if your contract stipulates 40 working hours per week, your hoursly rate is your base salary divided by 160 (or, if they want to be really unfair, divided by 184). If you're on an annual or longer contract, you could do (your base salary x 12) / 2,080.

Their calculation would mean that, though you are not physically in your office on weekends, you are on call and could be called in at any time to do 8 hours per day, 30 days per month non-stop, which is nonsense.

I'm sure your contract states what the working days and/or weekly working hours are, so you should have a rock-solid case... - not that it will help you with them.

h-train · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:47 pm Post subject:

That's exactly where I was coming from. I checked the labor law and it of course doesn't have any formula or say how overtime is to be calculated. My friend's father has been working here for a good many years and he says that they can calculate the overtime rate that way. I guess if they ask me to do more overtime I can just say no... thanks for the info.

scot47 · Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 15343

I think it is up to you and the employer to negotiate. Of course for some employers here that means the employer dictates what is done. Collective bargaining is an alien concept here (as it is in that other bastion of the Free World over the pond).

h-train · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:17 pm Post subject:

Never Ceased To Be Amazed · Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 3:40 pm Post subject:

In my system it is a flat AED 285 per hour with the relevant Master's. No negotiations. But at USD 78/hour, what's there to negotiate???

Last semester I worked five hours overtime a week. That earned me my 14th month of pay...

ALL OF WHICH IS GOING INTO MY WIFE'S MOUTH, plus some!!! Evil or Very Mad

NCTBA (Brother, can you spare a dime?)

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Personally I would calculate it at base pay + steps (not benefits) divided by contact hours times 1.5... and for much less, I wouldn't be available. (which BTW would be appr what NCTBA is being paid for OT at his employer - and I'm estimating his salary and teaching hours based on the usual employers in the UAE.)

The fact is that they get to figure it any way they want, your only option is to politely refuse to do it and be sure to say that the pay isn't enough to make it worth the extra work. (especially as I doubt that they are adding in any prep time either)

And yes... it is a system to screw you out of the money... so it goes. It all goes back to our repetitious "rule" to choose your employer carefully.

VS