In its issue of today, Al Akhbar revealed that “Sayidaty” magazine, Saudi Research and Publishing Company, founded in 1981, has clandestinely and arbitrarily fired six long-time employees asking them to stop work the next day given alleged budgetary constraints. According to Al Akhbar, the magazine’s administration managed to intimidate and blackmail its employees threatening their livelihoods, offering them a two-month salary compensation and a three-month disbursement for arbitrary dismissal, inconsistent with their years of service. They reportedly had two options, either to waive their right and accept a reparation that is less than half their entitlements, or resort to law, which eventually forced them to sign a clearance declaration statement since the court procedures exhaust both time and money. Over and above, the sacked employees do not have another source of income given the dire economic conditions the country is experiencing. For more on the subject, Al Akhbar spoke to the Beirut Office manager, Katia Dabaghi, who clarified that the decision has been taken months ago in agreement with the labor ministry. Sacked employees, she explained, could covertly turn to the ministry, the court or the Press Editors Syndicate to resolve their case, alleging that publishing this in the media could have detrimental effects on the employees themselves! Asking her on other possible ways to constrict the budget and spending, like for example, salary cuts or reduction of the salaries of senior staff, Dabaghi replied, she is not responsible for the magazine’s decision which she claimed has been reached at a regional level. (Al Akhbar, June 4, 2020)