Annual Leave in Saudi Labor Law: All Leave Types and Days

Your wedding is next week, a month ago your brother died, God rest his soul, and you expect your first baby next year. Each time, the HR department tells you: “We will deduct it from your annual leave balance.” Is that right?

The direct answer: no. These are separate leaves on full pay that are not deducted from your annual balance: five days for marriage or the death of a spouse, parent or grandparent, or child or grandchild; three days for the death of a brother or sister; and three days for a newborn, taken within seven days of the birth (amended Article 113). Your annual leave itself is 21 days, rising to 30 days after five continuous years (Article 109).

How many days of leave are you entitled to? Leave table after the 2025 amendments

Several articles of the Labor Law were amended and the amendments came into force in February 2025; some of them affect leave directly, such as maternity leave (Article 151) and marriage, death and newborn leave (Article 113). This table brings together the leave types most private-sector workers ask about:

Can annual leave be waived or postponed?

You are entitled to 21 days a year, rising to 30 days once you have completed five continuous years with the same employer. Your leave pay is paid in advance before you start the leave. The employer may set its dates according to work needs, but he cannot cancel it. You may not give it up in return for money while you are still employed. The employer must notify you of its dates at least thirty days in advance. It may be postponed to the following year with his agreement; he may postpone it for work reasons by ninety days, and anything longer needs your written consent and may not go beyond the end of the following year (Article 110). If the relationship ends and you have an unused balance, you are entitled to the wage for those days (Article 111).

How much sick leave do you get a year, and how is it calculated?

If your illness is proved by an approved medical report, you have sick leave during one year divided into three stages, whether taken all at once or in parts:

The first 30 days of sick leave in the year: full pay.

The next sixty days: three quarters of the wage.

The thirty days after that: unpaid.

If you take 10 days in January and 25 days in May, your total is 35 days: the first thirty on full pay, and the remaining five at three quarters of the wage.

The year here starts from the date of your first sick leave (Article 117), so the count does not restart with each new report. Keep a copy of every medical report, because absence without an approved report is treated as ordinary absence.

How long is maternity leave after the amendment?

Maternity leave is now 12 weeks on full pay, up from ten weeks. Six of these weeks are mandatory after the birth. The worker distributes the remaining six weeks as she wishes, and may start part of them up to four weeks before the expected date of birth, set by an attested medical certificate. In all cases she may extend the leave by one month without pay. The amendment added a new rule: if the worker gives birth to a child who is ill or has a disability and needs constant care, she has one month's leave on full pay after maternity leave ends, which she may extend by another month without pay.

How many days of marriage, paternity and bereavement leave?

You have five days on full pay for your marriage, and five days on the death of your wife or husband, a parent or grandparent such as your father, mother or grandfather, or a child or grandchild such as your son or daughter. The recent amendments added three days on the death of a brother or sister, which was not covered before. These leaves are counted from the date of the event. A father has three days on full pay on the birth of his child, taken within seven days of the birth.

These periods are the legal minimum. If the company's regulations or your contract give more days, or cover other relatives such as an uncle, that is in your favour and must be respected. The employer may ask for proof of the event, such as the marriage contract or the death or birth certificate.

Other leave you may need

• Hajj leave: 10 to 15 days on full pay including the Eid al-Adha holiday, once during your service, provided you have worked at least two continuous years for the employer.
• Exam leave: if the employer agreed to your enrolment in an educational institution or to you continuing in it, you have leave on full pay for the actual exam days for a year that is not being repeated, and unpaid leave for a repeated year. Submit the request at least fifteen days before the leave.
• Widow's waiting period (idda) leave: a Muslim female worker whose husband dies has idda leave on full pay of at least four months and ten days from the date of death, the waiting period set in the Quran (Surat al-Baqarah 2:234: “they shall wait by themselves for four months and ten days”). If she is pregnant, she may extend it without pay until she gives birth, because the waiting period of a pregnant woman ends with delivery. A non-Muslim female worker has fifteen days on full pay. During this period the worker may not work for anyone other than her employer.
• Unpaid leave: given with the employer's agreement, with its length agreed by both parties; the contract is treated as suspended for any period beyond twenty days unless agreed otherwise (Article 116).

How do you request leave and protect your right?

1. Submit your leave request in writing or through the company's HR system; do not rely on a verbal agreement with your manager.
2. Attach the right document: the medical report for sick leave, and the marriage contract or birth or death certificate for special leave.
3. Keep a copy of the approval; it protects you if your absence is later treated as absence from work.
4. If legal leave is refused or deducted from your salary without basis, ask for the reason in writing, then file your complaint through the channels of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development.

Note that special leave such as marriage, death and newborn leave is separate, so it may not be deducted from your annual leave balance. If you work on an Eid or official holiday at the employer's request, all hours worked on holidays and Eids are overtime (Article 107). If Eid days fall during your annual leave, the leave is extended by the same number of days (Article 24 of the Implementing Regulations).

Sick leave and the Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, National Day and Founding Day holidays are not counted in the probation period (Article 19 of the Implementing Regulations). So if you are on probation and take sick leave, your probation period is extended by the same number of days.

This is general information based on the official Arabic texts of Saudi laws, which prevail over any translation. It is not legal advice for your specific case.

Practical solutions for both sides

If you are the employee:

• Request your leave in writing and keep the approval or refusal.
• If your annual leave is refused again and again, document it, because it affects the calculation of your rights.
• For sick leave, submit the approved medical report on time.
• When the relationship ends, claim payment for the leave you did not take.

If you are the employer:

• Schedule annual leave early, and notify the worker of the dates thirty days in advance.
• Keep a clear record of every leave, its type and its days.
• Do not deduct paid leave that is due from the salary.
• Do not count special leave such as marriage, death and newborn leave against the annual balance.

Calculating leave and leave pay depends on length of service and the type of leave. Send us on WhatsApp your contract and your leave record, and we will work out your balance and what you are owed.