Farha Leadbetter

Biography

Farha is an Of Counsel in the Employment & Incentives practice and is based in our Riyadh office in Saudi Arabia.

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Recent Experience

Recently seconded to NEOM Company on a long-term assignment, Farha established and led the central employment legal function, embedded and developed legal policies and templates, provided global business support to key stakeholders in compliance with local laws and international standards, coordinated workforce mobility advice for international and cross border assignments and managed employment litigation across various jurisdictions.

Farha’s practice includes advisory support on all levels of the employee lifecycle including recruitment, onboarding, remuneration, incentives, transfers, promotions and exits as well as drafting employment contracts, policies, settlement agreements and corporate transactional work.

Additionally, her specific KSA practice involves advising on:

• Foreign Investment & Anti Concealment laws, Saudization & Nitiqat requirements, immigration & recruitment compliance, employment status & atypical working, sponsorship liabilities and wage protection
• Incorporation and operation of subsidiaries, joint ventures and overseas branches/LLCs and employee and asset business transfers
• Submitting bespoke Internal Work Rules aligned to Ministry of Human Resources & obtaining approvals and liaising with Government authorities including MOHR, QIWA & GOSI
• Working time limits, obtaining shift pattern approvals and demonstrating compliance with statutory timescales and investigation processes involving workplace behaviours
• KSA Clients include NEOM Company, KAUST, Red Sea Development, King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh Air, Saudi Tourism, Saudi Football Federation, Uber, Amazon, Tiktok, Snap SA, Bechtel, Mastercard, Microsoft, Virgin, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle

Previous Experience

• Prior to joining Al Tamimi & Company, Farha worked as an Employee Relations Compliance Manager for faculty at New York University Abu Dhabi advising on crisis management, compliance investigations and ethics breaches and delivering training programs on positive employee relations and faculty development. In the UK Farha worked as employment counsel in various commercial law firms in London and Leeds.
• In addition to presenting legal training workshops and case law updates, Farha also has extensive experience delivering labour law, organisational development and business skills training to large organisations across the Gulf region including NEOM Company, Embassies, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi Global Markets.