Saudi Arabia Focus
KSA national policy on equal employment opportunities
Law Update: Issue 356 - Saudi Arabia
Mohsin KhanPartner,Employment & Incentives
Hayat RafiqueAssociate,Employment & Incentives
As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the “Kingdom”) continues working towards the Vision 2030 strategy, the government is reviewing and reforming a number of national policies to ensure that workers’ rights are amongst the policies included the country’s reform agenda. This is very much in line with a key pillar of Vision 2030 to improve the labour market conditions within the private sector. This article looks at the recent introduction of a national strategy aimed at ensuring equal opportunities within the labour market.
One area of public policy that the Kingdom has recently reviewed is the anti-discrimination provisions applicable in the workplace with a view to enabling the Kingdom to promote certain social policies and prevent the exclusion of specific groups of underrepresented individuals from the workplace. Accordingly, on 10 January 2023, the Saudi Cabinet introduced the new “National policy of encouragement of opportunities and equality in treatment in employment and profession” (the “Policy”). The Policy is broadly in line with anti-discrimination laws in other jurisdictions and represents yet another significant milestone in the development of the local labour market in the Kingdom.
It should be noted from the outset that the Policy is not law and does not change the current legislative position but identifies areas and courses of action that the Kingdom are reviewing to achieve its strategy. The Policy also informs employers on the direction of travel with regards to equal opportunities in the employment context so that they can review and update their internal policies in line with the key features of the Policy.
Pursuant to the Saudi Labour Law (Royal Decree No. M/51 dated 23-8-1426 AH) (the “Labour Law”), “Employment shall be the right of the citizen, which shall not be exercised by any other person unless the conditions provided for in this Law are met. Citizens are equal in the right to employment without any discrimination on the basis of gender, disability, age or any other form of discrimination, whether during the performance of the work or when hiring or advertising it”.
This broad protection against discrimination is generally understood to only include discrimination on the grounds of gender, disability, age, and pregnancy.
In addition to the reference in the Labour Law as set out above, the Kingdom also has also enacted the Anti-Harassment Law of May 2018 which criminalises any acts of sexual harassment. Further, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (“MHRSD”) issued Ministerial Resolution 20912 dated 1 October 2019 (the “Resolution”) that introduced protections against behavioural abuse in the workplace. The Resolution sets out procedures and requirements which employers must comply with in order to safeguard the privacy, dignity and personal freedom of the individual and protect against behavioural abuse, which includes any acts of harassment, insult, offence as well as any form of discrimination.
The Policy covers all individuals in the public and private sectors who are subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law and Labour Law respectively. The Policy will be implemented in two phases over a period of 10 years, with a strategy to execute the goals of the policy, and then review and evaluate the results of implementation after five years to ensure that aim of the policy is being met.
Under the Policy, any direct or indirect discrimination is specifically prohibited, as is the exclusion of an individual in the basis of ethnicity, colour, gender, national origin, social origin, disability, or age (each being a “Protected Characteristic”). The Policy also aims to prevent discrimination according to an individual’s health, pregnancy / maternity, modesty, or on the grounds that an employee has family responsibilities.
The Policy intends to ensure that there are policies, programmes, and initiatives in place to help those who may have the least opportunities to participate in the workplace.
It is important to note that the Policy does not preclude employers from positively discriminating on grounds of qualification required for occupying certain jobs and also in favour of Saudi nationals in accordance the applicable Saudisation requirements.
The Policy has three main goals, as outlined below.
1. Development of laws and policies in the workplace
This will include reviewing and evaluating the current provisions of the law to verify that there is no discrimination within statutory provisions and preparing procedures and policies to prevent discriminatory practices in place in workplace.
2. Enhancing the participation of women and categories that have least opportunities in the labour market
The Policy intends to ensure that there are policies, programmes, and initiatives in place to help those who may have the least opportunities to participate in the workplace. This category of individuals includes females, those who live in remote areas where economic development is low, senior individuals, those who have family responsibilities, individuals who may have been imprisoned for crimes which are not considered capital crimes and those with a mental or physical disability.
3. Supporting the execution of the policy
The MHRSD will look to establish a framework to ensure that there a system in place to raise a complaint or grievance in relation to discrimination in the labour market. The MHRSD will also develop a “equality department” that has the authority to periodically review legislation, execute initiatives and programmes, launch media campaigns which aim to enhance the practices of equality, encourage the cooperation of employers and employees, amongst other responsibilities.
The introduction of the Policy is a key development in achieving the Kingdom’s objective of promoting equality and eliminating any discrimination the labour market. It is expected to enhance the treatment of employees, whilst encouraging greater participation of females and underrepresented groups in the workplace. The Policy has now also introduced new Protected Characteristics which were not previously expressly mentioned in the Labour Law, such as ethnicity and race, and also introduces a new concept of indirect discrimination.
Companies setting up and already operating in the Kingdom should ensure they review and update their internal policies and procedures in line with the new Policy to ensure that their workplaces promote equal opportunities and have effective measures to prevent discrimination.
For further information,please contact Mohsin Khan and Hayat Rafique.
Published in March 2023
