Saudi Arabia’s Labour Ministry plans to toughen its stance against businesses that violate the rule of employing Saudi women at lingerie shops, said a report.

“Employment of women at these shops is mandatory and we’ll not show any leniency toward violators,” Fahd Al-Takhify, assistant undersecretary at the ministry, was quoted as saying in the Arab News report.

Al-Takhify said violators would face punishment designated for Nitaqat’s red category firms, adding that they would not receive any service from the ministry.

“We’ll also impose fines on the violators,” he added. However, he did not disclose the number of firms fined by the ministry during the past weeks.

The ministry had deployed female inspectors for lingerie shops in various parts of the country to make sure they comply with new labour regulations. The officials conducted 11,020 inspections in 2012 and found that 5,226 shops were following the rules while 2,608 were violators, said the report.

The dispute settlement commission imposed fines worth SR11.1 million ($2.9 million) on about 1,500 violations of the Labour Law in 2012, a source at the ministry was quoted as saying.