Job Discussion Forums

[Oreally]

.......Does it matter? Now that Bell has lost the KSU contract, their less than stellar management of the KSU project is coming out.

http://mag.digitalpc.co.uk/Olive/ODE/ELGAZETTE/

Obeikan admits that retaining passports is policy � not law
Melanie Butler explores teachers� passport problems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

In June the Gazette received an email sent to a teacher at the end of his contract on the King Saud University preparatory year, asking for the return of a text book. It stated, �Please turn it in as soon as possible so it doesn�t slow down the passport retrieval process.�Another email read, �On submission of your passport, we can request Accounts to release your cash advance.�
This was one of a number of complaints we received from teachers working on the project about retention of passports. Several teachers have alleged that staff from Obeikan, the programme contractor, told them that retention was Saudi law. We also received a copy of the Obeikan employees handbook which stated, �Attention: it is against the law for employees to hold passport while s/he is in the country, so failure of not submitting his/her passport to the department � will eradicate her/him from contract � (sic)�.
The translation of Saudi Arabian employment law of 2006, SA 2006 � L 74429, shows no such provision. We contacted the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which confirmed that retention of passports was not required by Saudi law and that the organisation had advised the country that it was violating the Forced Labour Convention, to which it is a signatory, by withholding passports. Commenting on the textbook case the ILO said, �Such modes of control inhibit the basic rights of individuals and the working rights of workers.�
Once the teachers were safely out of Saudi Arabia, the Gazette raised the matter with the Bell Educational Trust, which had told us in 2008 it had been �awarded a three-year contract to run� the KSU project and that it would work with its partners �including Obeikan� to manage the programme. We also submitted the allegations to a general email at Obeikan but got no reply.
On receiving the allegations Bell stated it was �appointed by Obeikan Education to provide a range of educational services, including the recruitment, induction and deployment of staff� on the project and employment queries should be referred to Obeikan as the teachers� employer. Bell gave us the emails of two Obeikan staff: Greg Hoile and David Pottinger, former CEO of Bell.
Hoile confirmed that, �although not required by law, it is common practice in the kingdom for sponsors to retain passports once an iqama [work visa] has been issued�. Asked about the references to Saudi law in the handbook, Hoile said, �On reviewing the staff handbook, the section on passport retention was found to be out of date. This has now been updated to reflect Saudi Arabian labour law.� Hoile also said, �In cases where employees have specifically requested the return of their passports this has always been agreed to by Obeikan Education.�
In another case an Irish teacher returned to the kingdom in January at the beginning of the Arab Spring and, on Irish government advice, refused to surrender his passport. He claims Obeikan told him Saudi regulations meant that he had to surrender it. He then asked for a translation of those regulations. The translation the teacher supplied to the Gazette reads, �In regards to the retention of the labourer�s passport by his employer it should be clear that there is no law requiring the employer to retain the passport.�
According to the teacher, Obeikan agreed that he could keep his passport if he could provide a letter from the Irish embassy requesting this. The Gazette has seen an email from the deputy head of the Irish mission to Obeikan stating it was against Irish law for the teacher to hand in his passport.
The teacher asserted that the company had released his passport but retained his iqama. Asked whether it was company policy to retain the iqama if the passport was returned, Hoile confirmed that it was.
However, Obeikan expressed shock that a teacher had been threatened with non return of his passport if he didn�t return a textbook. Hoile told the Gazette, �If one of our managers has acted in the way you described, of course we will take disciplinary action. I also reiterate that this behaviour is in no way sanctioned by any member of the Obeikan Education executive team, nor am I aware that a passport has ever been withheld pending the return of company property.�
Obeikan has asked for evidence of this incident and the Gazette has agreed to supply it.

Teachers have also made varying allegation regarding the recruitment and induction process conducted by the Bell Educational Trust. The allegations have been passed to the management and trustees. However, since permission from the teachers to release the evidence supporting their allegations to Bell was not received until shortly before going to press, the Gazette will be reporting on these issues in a forthcoming edition.


So if you kept your documents from that mission, this is the time to send them to the EL Gazette.

[scot47]

So if Bell have given up who is running the show now ? Ahmed Al Ghamdi and Sons ?

[Middle East Beast]

The Obeikan employee handbook is that company's Pentagon Paper regarding the issue of passport retention.

That employer was caught with it's corporate pants down.

Anyone who's been to KSA knows that employers there retain employees' passports and claim it's the law. Not all employers do it, but the vast majority do, and they give you hell if you refuse.

MEB

[Deeman15]

So has anything happened as a result of this expose? Has Obeikan been fined by the Saudi Labour Ministry? Have the other contractors stopped holding passports? Has there been a statement by the Saudi Ministry?

Or is it business as usual?

[elamericano]

As for US people: "Although U.S. passports are the property of the U.S. Government, the common practice of Saudi companies is to retain passports in a safe place at the company's office. We encourage you to keep your own passport, or if your company insists on keeping it for you, make sure you have a color copy of the identification page, as well as color copies of any pages with your visa."

LOL @ this kowtowing garbage

http://riyadh.usembassy.gov/acsfaq.html

[Middle East Beast]

Employers will use the excuse that you can't have possession of your passport and iqama at the same time.

Why the hell not? I never understood why that would be such a bad thing.

Is it an issue of physics, i.e. you can't allow matter to come into contact with antimatter?


MEB

[freesoul]

Fire burned 17,000 passports.

http://www.arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article473615.ece

[Middle East Beast]

[scot47]

17,000 passports ? Standard OP is to find a foreigner who can be blamed. Usually a Filipino or Indian. Lock him up for a while and then deport him.

[Redcar24]

Hello All, (Sept 9th 2011)

It is happening again! When you arrive at any airport in Saudi do not for any reason give up your passport on a temporary visa..unless you have an Iqcoma!!

It seems Riyadh employers for Universities are asking for your passport at the airport. It just isn't allowed by Saudi Law. Never work on a visa that says work isn't permitted by law.

If they say it will be changed in Bahrain to Iqcoma without medical or police check do not believe them. Please leave the country immediately the company has no right to hold you, your passport or your belongings. Get in contact with the police they will support you....

[sheikh radlinrol]

[scot47]

How are you going to get an Iqama without giving your employer your passport ?

[teach star]

Oreally, thanks for posting this. On p. 6 of the EL Gazette is contact information for anyone who has more information for them.

Melanie Butler: [email protected]

Matt Salisbury: [email protected]

[Oreally]

Actually.......thank you teach star. I failed to notice the email address of those contacts. I still have a few interesting documents that demonstrate the cavalier mismanagement that went on there.