Grievance

Definition of a grievance

A grievance (التظلم الوظيفي), also called an employee grievance, is a formal complaint that an employee lodges about a decision, the treatment they have received or a working condition they consider wrong, through a declared internal route that is expected to end in a written reply.

In an establishment whose work regulation follows the model work regulation (النموذج الموحّد), the scope of a grievance is set out in that regulation: a worker may raise a grievance against any action, measure or penalty taken against them by the establishment. That scope is wider than a grievance against a disciplinary penalty alone, which the Saudi Labor Law (نظام العمل) governs in Article 72 and whose route is set out further below.

How a grievance differs from a passing complaint

A spoken complaint to a manager is dealt with where it is raised, and there it ends. A grievance is different: it is recorded, and it has a route, a period and a documented reply. Its trace remains in the establishment’s records whether it is upheld or rejected.

That documentation is what protects both parties at once. It protects the employee from being ignored, and it protects the establishment from a claim that nobody listened.

What a sound grievance route is built on

A grievance route that works rests on five elements:

• A declared channel. It is a channel every employee knows about, and its natural place is the employee handbook. Where the model regulation applies, it names where a grievance goes: it is submitted in writing to the competent body at the establishment.
• An alternative route. It is needed for a grievance about the line manager themselves. Without it, the route closes in the very case for which it was set up.
• A known period for the reply. The employee is told of it when the grievance is lodged. Under the model regulation, the worker lodges the grievance in writing within thirty days, excluding official holidays, from the date they were notified of the decision, action or penalty grieved against, and is notified of the outcome within a period not exceeding fifteen days, excluding official holidays, from the date the grievance was submitted.
• Confidentiality within declared limits. The employee is told in advance who will see the grievance. A promise of confidentiality that cannot be kept costs the route its credibility.
• Protection from retaliation. It is a declared commitment that lodging a grievance in good faith will not be used as a reason for action against the person who lodged it. The model regulation states that the worker is not to be harmed for lodging a grievance, and its text attaches no condition of good faith to that protection. So where an establishment’s regulation follows the model, this element is required content of the regulation, not only a feature of a well designed policy.

The model regulation has force through a delegated route rather than as a statute. Article 13 of the Labor Law obliges every employer to prepare a work regulation for the establishment in accordance with the model prepared by the Ministry, and the Minister may grant exemptions. Under paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Implementing Regulation (اللائحة التنفيذية), an article of an existing establishment regulation that conflicts with the model is treated as cancelled and is not to be relied on. The grievance rules above are therefore rules that a compliant establishment regulation carries, not rights the Labor Law confers directly on every worker. How an establishment’s regulation relates to the Labor Law is covered in our guide to the Saudi work organisation regulation.

What follows the reply to a grievance

A complete route closes with a written decision communicated to the person who lodged the grievance, even when that decision is a rejection. Leaving a grievance without a declared close leaves the employee with no outcome on which to act, and escalation outside the establishment then remains an open route.

Under the model regulation, if the grievance is rejected, or is not decided in writing within fifteen days of its submission, the worker may object before the labour courts (المحاكم العمالية) within thirty days, excluding official holidays, from the date of rejection or the expiry of the period set for deciding the grievance, whichever is earlier.

Where the decision grieved against imposes a disciplinary penalty, Article 72 of the Labor Law sets the route. The worker must be notified of the penalty decision in writing; a worker who refuses to take delivery, or is absent, is sent the notice by registered letter to the address shown in their file. Article 72 of the Labor Law then sets three periods for three different steps: thirty days, excluding official holidays, from the date of notification, for the worker to file a written grievance with the competent body at the employer; fifteen days from submission for the employer to decide it in writing; and thirty days, excluding official holidays, for the worker to object to the penalty decision before the labour courts, counted from the rejection or the expiry of the employer’s period, whichever is earlier. In Article 72 of the Labor Law, the employer’s fifteen days carry no exclusion of official holidays. Royal Decree M/44 amended Article 72 of the Labor Law, and these periods are those of the article as amended. How the periods run for one such penalty is set out under suspension, and how they relate to a grievance that several employees lodge about one shared cause is set out under collective grievance.

The internal grievance route is the establishment’s route for resolving within it what can be resolved there. It is not the amicable settlement route (التسوية الودية), whose requests are submitted to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development and which has a period of its own. According to the Ministry’s service page, the statutory duration of amicable settlement is 21 working days from the filing of the request, and where no settlement is reached the matter is referred to the labour court. Both stages are covered in our guide to amicable settlement and the labour court.

What recurring grievances say

Grievances are a source of data, not merely individual cases. When they recur in one department, around a particular policy or within a defined period, the pattern points to a structural cause rather than to individuals.

An establishment that receives no grievances at all is not necessarily free of problems. The route may be unknown to employees, or it may not feel safe to use, and that connects a grievance route with psychological safety at work.

The provisions relied on are those of the Saudi Labor Law as published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development: Article 72 (notification of a penalty decision, the grievance, the employer’s period to decide it and the objection before the labour courts) and Article 13 (the employer’s work regulation, prepared in accordance with the Ministry’s model). The grievance rules of the model regulation are those of Article 71 of the model work regulation, published as Annex 1 to the Implementing Regulation, and the effect of a conflicting establishment article is that of paragraph 2 of Article 4 of the Implementing Regulation. The description of amicable settlement is taken from the Ministry’s service page.

This is an explanation of the concept and of the statutory provisions cited, not legal advice.