Working conditions and labour laws in Saudi Arabia

Hello,

As I am working here in the Kingdom for a very long time, I feel it is a safe place and labour law strictly followed by companies and government.  Only employee need to get signed contract before they enter in the Kingdom so as to keep your rights protected. Rest are in line.

Honestly, working conditions in Saudi Arabia are different from where I came from. The working hours here are longer than Egypt, and I used to have more paid time off there.

Of course locals earn more money than expats and the later are not allowed to work in Government Agencies.

There are some strict regulations regarding employees' safety and the physical conditions in the workplace.

The laws are usually shared through websites, newspapers, social media and of course TVs.

Working condition and labor laws of Saudi Arabia may be good but private companies don't obey this rule properly. Need to investigate all private companies of Saudi Arabia about this annually.
Thanking you for your nice question.
ENGR MOHAMMAD MOKTER HOSSAIN Ali

Hello,

There are labor laws in Saudi Arabia but no company follows it like I know my friend who was working as Civil Engineer and didn’t get salary for 12 months and at last he left the Kingdom without salary.

Don’t come in small local companies for job because they don’t pay end of service sometimes.


If you need any clarification then can whatsapp me at ***

Regards,
Saad Amin

Depends on the size of organization , talking about myself , I'm working in a large company ,classified in the middle management , paid on time . The ownership mindset is our philosophy at work because we get incentive and I'm rembourced for any business trip outside my home Jeddah city .
In the end of the contract you will get the final service allowances according to the Saudi Labor Office.
For the small establishment , the status is less attractive , you may work hard and get little. So you have to be sure from the beginning where you are going put your feet.

I work for an American Company,  and follow the laws of the Co. that are better than Saudi laws.   My Co was not paid by the Ministry for three years, we as engineers did not feel any thing  Not only full salary was given, they gave regular bonuses, annual increments, and some time additional travel allowance, too.   The laws can be anyway, if you work   for a good Co. whether American, Local or other neighbouring countries, you rghts will never be taken away.

Hi Priscilla,

Below is a link to Saudi Labour Law, in general the working condition varies from one company to another. you need to make sure of the working environment.

https://beoe.gov.pk/files/legal-framewo … ur-Law.pdf

Best wishes

Musa

Employers force the staff to work long hours without paying them overtime, as a teacher, my contact hours were 25 but I used to teach 30 hours, with *** and it never paid over time, also, my contract said the working hours were 40 hrs, but I used to spend around 25 hrs in preparation, which makes the total working hours around 55 hrs, and the college never pay for me overtime 15 hr/ week. The working environment never been healthy and safe, as the AC either never works or it's very cold, which makes the students and staff sick, and the college never fix the problem, also, the college switches the elevators off, so all the staff and students use stairs which was unhealthy and unsafe, finally, the college never ever reports work incidents which happened which violates the labor laws!!!! There are a lot of other things at these colleges which make them unhealthy and unsafe for working. The students have reported these conditions everywhere but no one has listened to them.

The Saudi labor laws are just on papers, they are not in reality,as many people in the labor departments have been for almost 1-2 years without taking their rights!!  So it must be amended so people get their rights within specific time, maximum 3 months.

I have heard stories people telling about the employers who don't pay them on time and not obeying the labor rules etc. It can be true for some organisations but cant generalize.Saudi has very good employee friendly labor laws . If a company adhered to the Saudi labor laws, employees wouldn't face any issues. Your life in Saudi Arabia would be purely depend on the Organisation you work for.Always choose the employer wisely and come to Saudi only if your employer is a reputed one.   

I work for a US MNC and from my experience I haven't faced any issues. My company obey the labor laws in Saudi as well as its international policies which offers us good comfort in terms of perks,recognition etc.
If you would like to save some good money, working with a good company in Saudi Arabia is the best option in the world as the expenditure is very less here compared to other places but you can get very good competitive salary here.

Hi

I received a contract from a Saudi company. However, it's for remote work, so visa and other stuff won't be issued.

Strangely, it only has a English version. There is no arabic, even though contract says that English is only for guidance.

My question: is this contract valid and legally binding? I mean, is it not mandatory to sign an Arabic version as well?

Thanks in advance!

tomgmu wrote:

Hi

I received a contract from a Saudi company. However, it's for remote work, so visa and other stuff won't be issued.

Strangely, it only has a English version. There is no arabic, even though contract says that English is only for guidance.

My question: is this contract valid and legally binding? I mean, is it not mandatory to sign an Arabic version as well?

Thanks in advance!

please verify that contract, if that company really exists or not in saudi arabia. fraud jobs work from home is very common where they get all the task with in 2 months and then they go for new recruit.
But yes English is enough bcuz that contract does not have anything to do with saudi laws, Work from home contracts do not follow any govt laws, so you must check your contract many times and add anything from working hours, Overtime , holidays, off days , benefits , EOSB and any other facilities like medical or xyz anything.

Hi

Thanks for the info! I see.
One thing: This contract is based on Saudi law. It makes many references to Saudi labour law and various other laws and it also says that Saudi Courts should handle disputes etc. It has all those details, like overtime, working hours etc. It is a fixed length contract, like the ones foreigners get.
As for the wording, this sounds like a standard Saudi employment contract, but it has no Arabic version.

The strange things is that originally I was supposed to move to Saudi and live there, then we changed the plan and made the whole thing remote. But when the plan was to move, they a sent me another contract which was printed in both Arabic and english.
But when we changed the plan and agreed on remote work, they sent me only an English version.

Is this not because remote work is not even possible in Saudi?

tomgmu wrote:

Hi

Thanks for the info! I see.
One thing: This contract is based on Saudi law. It makes many references to Saudi labour law and various other laws and it also says that Saudi Courts should handle disputes etc. It has all those details, like overtime, working hours etc. It is a fixed length contract, like the ones foreigners get.
As for the wording, this sounds like a standard Saudi employment contract, but it has no Arabic version.

The strange things is that originally I was supposed to move to Saudi and live there, then we changed the plan and made the whole thing remote. But when the plan was to move, they a sent me another contract which was printed in both Arabic and english.
But when we changed the plan and agreed on remote work, they sent me only an English version.

Is this not because remote work is not even possible in Saudi?

For sure remote jobs are available in saudia, but as you said you received first contract when you were coming here then after change of plan you get another, both have English too, so first cross check why they change the contract ?? what terms has been changed ? or only dates and job location has been changed?