Labor ministry to help Saudi Oger’s laid-off staff find work

Saudi Arabia’s labor ministry is helping Saudi Oger’s laid-off find jobs elsewhere, ministry spokesperson Khaled Abal Khail said in a statement.

With the help of the Human Resources Development Fund, the Unemployment Insurance System, and the National Labor Gateway (Taqat), the ministry has formed a team to help find suitable jobs for both national and expat workers, he said.

The ministry has also hired lawyers to handle the labor case filed against the company by both local and expat construction workers over delayed wages, he added.

Saudi Oger, which is owned by the family of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Al-Hariri, has struggled to pay worker wages amid a wider slowdown in the Saudi construction sector following the plunge in oil prices in mid-2014.

Thousands of former employees from Philippines, Pakistan, and India were forced to leave the Kingdom unpaid after the company cancelled their work visas.