Sick leave is an entitlement separate from annual leave, with a pay ladder set out in Article 117 of the Labor Law: thirty days on full pay, then sixty days at three-quarters of pay, then thirty days unpaid.
Two mistakes dominate in practice: deducting sick days from the annual leave balance, which is wrong because they are different entitlements with different rules; and restarting the ladder for each separate illness rather than counting it across the single year.
Automating this ladder in a leave system is what prevents the error, because tracking one hundred and twenty days spread across a year for a single employee by hand is error-prone by nature.
Before you rely on this guide: This content is general information and is not binding legal advice, rules vary with contract type and the circumstances of each case, and provisions may have changed since the last-updated date shown above, so before any decision affecting an employee, check the article in its official source or consult a specialist.
The three-stage ladder
A sick employee earns, for days of illness within a single year, sick leave across three consecutive pay stages:
- 1The first thirty days: on full pay.
- 2The following sixty days: at three-quarters of pay.
- 3The thirty days after that: unpaid.
How the single year is counted
The ladder is counted across the single year taken together rather than for each separate illness, and Article 117 defines that single year as the one beginning on the date of the first sick leave rather than the calendar year or the contract year, so an employee who takes twenty days and then fifteen more in the same year does not restart the ladder.
They continue from where they left off: the first ten days of the second absence fall in the first stage and are paid in full, and the remaining five enter the second stage at three-quarters of pay.
This is where manual application most often fails, because it requires a running balance per employee across the year rather than a calculation per request.
It never comes out of the annual balance
Sick leave is a separate entitlement with its own rules and is never deducted from the annual leave balance. An employee sick for twenty days keeps their annual balance intact.
Nor are public holidays or the weekly rest day falling within it deducted from it, and sick days are not treated as unexcused absence so long as they are documented by an approved medical report.
The medical report requirement
Entitlement to sick leave is conditional on proof by a medical report from an approved source, and the employer may verify the report through the authorised body.
Absence claimed as illness without an approved report is not treated as sick leave and falls under the rules on unexcused absence, including deduction and penalty.
Documenting the report in the employee file matters to both sides: it protects the employee from having their days counted as absence, and protects the establishment from a later claim over pay withheld.
Protection from termination
The effect of sick leave does not stop at pay. An employer may not end an employee's contract while they are on approved sick leave, a deliberate restriction preventing an employee from being removed at their weakest.
That does not mean the relationship can never end. Where the employee has exhausted the prescribed sick leave and remains unable to return to work, the contract may be ended under the applicable rules with all entitlements paid in full.
Common errors in practice
- 1Deducting sick days from the annual balance, conflating two different entitlements.
- 2Restarting the ladder for each separate illness rather than counting across the year.
- 3Paying three-quarters from day one, or paying full pay across all one hundred and twenty days.
- 4Recording sick days as absence despite an approved medical report.
- 5Ending an employee's contract while they are on sick leave.
Official sources
Article numbers cited refer to the Saudi Labor Law and its Executive Regulations. Rules and rates are subject to change, so refer to the official source whenever in doubt.
- Saudi Labor Law, Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development
This content is general information and is not binding legal advice, rules vary with contract type and the circumstances of each case, and provisions may have changed since the last-updated date shown above, so before any decision affecting an employee, check the article in its official source or consult a specialist.