Sponsor to pay SL driver SR 20, 000

A Sri Lankan worker who lost his leg on the job has accepted a compensation of SR20, 000 from his sponsor, officials from the Sri Lankan Consulate in Jeddah told Arab News Sunday. Twenty-nine-year-old Ruwan Chamara Herath refused an initial compensation offer of SR 5, 000 from his Saudi sponsor.

Herath suffered serious injuries after driving a vehicle without headlights. Herath alleges that his sponsor had forced him to drive at midnight even though he knew that the headlights were not working.

An official from the consulate said that the sponsor tried to forcibly repatriate the worker without awarding him proper compensation. “He offered him SR5, 000, which is equivalent to three months’ worth of wages and allowances,” he said.

The Sri Lankan Consulate has intervened to assist Herath.

“We have worked out a suitable compensation sum for the worker,” the official said. Herath claimed that the company he works for treats its workers “like slaves with total disregard for local labor regulations.”

He said Herath was tasked with making up to 20 trips day transporting sand in huge trucks for a cement factory along with 16 other Sri Lankan drivers.

“Our sponsor has not given us residency permits or driver's licenses for the last nine months,” Herath said.(Arab News)