Human resources ministry reviewing Article 83 of Saudi labor law to ensure compliance, says official

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) is currently reviewing Article No. 83 of the Saudi Labor Law in order to ensure it complies with the Labor Reform Initiative (LRI) launched recently, Makkah newspaper reported, citing Hani AlMojel, Deputy Minister for Labor Policies.

This comes with the aim of preventing any manipulation of the above-stated initiative, which allows resident workers to move to new employers and ensure that trade secrets or other advantages of the previous employer are not revealed, so as to cause harm to its facilities, AlMojel said.

According to data available with Agraam, Article No. 83 of the Saudi Labor Law states as follows:

1) If the work assigned to the worker allows him to get acquainted with the employer's customers, the employer might require the worker in the contract not to compete with him upon expiration of the contract. For this condition to be valid, it shall be in writing and specific in terms of time, place and type of work. In all cases, the duration of such agreement shall not exceed two years from the date of termination of the relationship between both parties.

2) If the work assigned to the worker allows him to have access to the employer's business secrets, the employer might require the worker in the contract not to reveal his secrets upon expiration of the contract. For this condition to be valid, it shall be in writing and specific in terms of time, place and type of work. In all cases, the duration of such agreement shall not exceed two years from the date of termination of the relationship between both parties.

3) Notwithstanding the provisions hereof, the employer might submit a legal action within one year from the date of discovering any violation by the worker for any of obligations thereof as stated herein.