Maternity Leave under Saudi Arabian Law and International Law - Article Example

Maternity Leave under Saudi Arabian Law and International LawIntroductionThe purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast Maternity leaves under the Saudi Arabian Law and the International Law. The Saudi society has started to accept women in their work place as people have began to realize the innate value of women. It is imperative that people, women in particular, to be familiar with their rights under the Saudi Labour law ('Kane 67). Women in Saudi Arabia should not indulge in business activities that may expose them to any form of danger.

As opposed to international law, where a woman on maternity leave is paid depending on the company’s policy, under the Saudi Arabian Law, a woman employee that is about to give birth to a child is entitled to paid maternity leave commencing four weeks before delivering and six weeks of paid maternity leave. Back ground.This issue became of great concern after there were heated debates on whether or not to pay women who were on maternity leave. Other employees resided in firing an employee during her maternity leave.

There was the lack of a law that was able to protect women during their maternity leave. The employers were fond of deducting a certain amount of money from their salary of women to cover for the medical care. Currently, the employee is obliged to pay the maternity medical care for the woman. On the event that the employee has come back to work she is entitled to have a one-hour break in order to breast feed the baby. The employer should not deduct any money from the salary of a woman during these breaks as many of the Saudi Arabian women breast feed up to two years (International labour laws 78).

The employer cannot fire a woman employee under the Saudi Law during the 180 day after child birth. AnalysisThe advantages of Saudi Arabian law are that an employer who has more than 50 women with young children, he should employ care takers to look after the children near the business premises. This is viewed as an ideal way of keeping the women in employment especially those that work in factories. If there are more than 100 women, then the employer should open child day care centre. The international Law dictates that a woman on her maternity leave ought to be paid up to two thirds of her normal earnings however; this is not the case in Saudi Arabia.

The women are pain their full amount. Disadvantage of the Saudi Arabian law on maternity leave is that many women may enjoy or take advantage of the privileges that come with this law at the expense of her job. Establishing of a childcare centre and employing of care takes seems to put a lot of budget on the employer. There is no responsibility or expense that the woman handles during this period. The maternal leave seems to be longer keeping in mind that the women are paid their full amount and their medical expenses catered for.

Personal viewSince, women are deemed as the most efficient employees, they should continue to enjoy these rights. For example full pay of salary during maternity. It is commonly known that most women in Saudi Arabia lack rights in many areas. However, they should change the added expenses like opening a day care centre for children and work out a plan where both parents and employees equally contribute. Work cited'Kane, Michael. Saudi Arabia Labor Law Outline. New York : Springer , 2009. print.

Office, International Labour. Maternity protection at work. London : International Labour Office, 2006. Print. USA., Amnesty International. Saudi Arabia:gross human rights abuses against women. New York : Amnesty International USA., 2000. print.