Saudi opens labour courts

riyadh – Saudi Arabia has opened doors to labour courts aimed at organising the labour market, protecting workers and boosting investment.

The labour courts — to be fully digitalised — were officially launched by Justice Minister Walid Al Samaani and Minister of Labour and Social Development Ahmed Al Rajhi on November 25. There are seven courts, one in each of the Kingdom’s major cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Abha, Buraidah and holy cities of Makkah and Madinah.

The launch of the labour courts comes on the heels of the official launch of commercial courts in October. Commercial courts have begun operations in the country’s three major cities — Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.

Minister Al Samaani said the establishment of labour courts was an important step towards growing the labour market and creating a climate to attract investments. The new courts aim to reduce the time needed to complete litigation. The labour courts are digitally integrated with all government bodies that are relevant to the areas of law it considers.

Some 13 million workers are in Saudi Arabia, 10 million of which are foreign and 3 million Saudi, the ministry said in July citing official statistics. These numbers are expected to increase with the ongoing mega projects across the Kingdom and the increasing demand for labour, according to the ministry.

The Ministry of Justice says it hopes to achieve four objectives through the new courts: boosting investment opportunities, achieving excellence, expediting decisions on labour cases and enabling benefits stemming from the rich databases courts maintain.

Al Samaani said that the ministry’s “paperless-court” project had reduced bureaucratic procedures and shortened the period for executing judicial orders from two months to 72 hours. This has been enabled by activating the electronic linking system that connects all relevant entities.