Saudi Employer Attempts to Steal Financial Rights From Deceased Employee
Ali Desouki, an Egyptian builder, died on March 20th in Saudi Arabia after building materials collapsed on top of him. His death has sparked a debate in Saudi Arabia about the family’s financial rights after Desouki’s passing.
“My brother was a property carpenter who worked for private Saudi real estate corporation ‘Fayez Ben Ahmed’ in Mecca. He lost his life after a wall collapsed on top of him. His sponsor asked me to abdicate my brother financial rights,” Ali Desouki’s brother, Hussein Desouki, told Daily News Egypt.
The sponsorship program is used to keep track of migrant workers in Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia. Desouki worked in Saudi Arabia over five years ago, and recently returned when he was hired by a real estate company.
His brother, Hussein, explained that he was left in the dark about his Ali’s death. “On 20 March, I received a call from my brother’s employer who informed me of his death. However, the circumstances of his death were not clarified. I thought it was due to natural causes,” Hussein said.
The sponsor’s son soon contacted Hussein to ask him for permission to bury his brother in Saudi Arabia. Two days later, the sponsor’s son again contacted Hussein to ask him to abdicate all of the financial rights that are to be paid to the family after a death.
At this point, Hussein began to connect the dots. “I discovered that the sponsor is trying to deceive me. He wants to get out of paying the legal compensation that Saudi labour laws guarantee,” he said.
Now, the Saudi Embassy in Egypt has opened an investigation into the matter. The Egyptians Union in Saudi Arabia released a statement, “Several Egyptian media outlets have reported that Desouki’s body is being held by the sponsor, but this is false. The body is held inside Al-Nour hospital, with the knowledge of the Saudi authorities, to guarantee that his family will receive compensation from the sponsor.”
The deceased’s family now plans to sue the sponsor for not upholding the financial rights of Ali’s family.
