RIYADH: The Shoura Council recommended on Monday that payouts should be given to the dependants of foreign workers who die or are disabled in a work accident if they are registered for social insurance.
This ruling, if implemented, would apply to expatriates working in the Kingdom who are registered with the General Organization of Social Insurance (GOSI).
Council members unanimously voted in favor of this amendment to Article 37 of the law governing the GOSI as a welfare measure to help the families of overseas workers in the Kingdom.
The recommendation was made when the council's Management and Human Resources Committee submitted its report on the GOSI.
Deputy Speaker Dr. Bandar bin Muhammad bin Hamzah Hajjar chaired Monday's session.
The council's secretary general Muhammad Abdullah Al-Ghamdi said that members were adamant that the GOSI should also reimburse the cost of repatriating bodies of expatriate workers to their homeland as well as the airfare for a permanently disabled employee who was forced to return home.
It also recommended that Saudi women workers who have worked for 10 years should be entitled to receive their pension and other dues after they reach the mandatory retirement age of 55.
The house approved a draft memorandum of understanding between the King Abdulaziz Foundation For Research and Archives and the Research Center for Gulf Studies in Kuwait.
Shoura Council member Dr. Ali Al-Namalah said that such cooperation would help students from both countries exchange political, cultural and social ideas.
A draft agreement between the Kingdom and Syria on avoiding double taxation and tax evasion was also approved.
The council also discussed draft regulations governing inmates at children's correctional homes, which function under the Kingdom's social welfare programs.
It recommended that boys should serve at least 10 years in such homes instead of the stipulated 12 years.
Council member Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Dawood suggested that female divorcees or widows should be considered for rehabilitation programs in welfare homes for women. He said that they are victims of circumstance and they need social as well as mental security in society.
By Md Rasooldeen
© Arab News 2010
