This page is a route guide rather than a template, and deliberately so. Work regulations are not an internal document an establishment drafts as it pleases: the ministry issues a unified template and the regulations are approved through the ministry, so a downloaded file carries no legal effect without that approval.
Article 12 of the Labour Law requires the ministry to issue one or more unified templates and to set the approval rules. Article 13 requires every employer to prepare regulations following the ministry's template, permits additional terms that do not conflict with the Law or its Regulations, and requires the regulations and any amendment to be published in a visible place or by any means ensuring those subject to them are aware.
The statutory basis
Article 12 of the Law
The ministry issues one or more unified templates covering work rules, benefits, violations and disciplinary penalties, and sets the approval controls and mechanisms.
Article 13 of the Law
Every employer prepares regulations following the ministry's template, may add terms that do not conflict with the Law or its Regulations, and must publish them and any amendment visibly.
Article 3 of the Executive Regulations
The unified template for work regulations is adopted in the form annexed to the Regulations, Annex 1.
Article 4 of the Executive Regulations
Establishments preparing their own regulations must have them reviewed and certified by law firms accredited on the ministry's website before submission. Establishments with fewer than fifty workers may select the unified template electronically without any amendment or addition, and an electronic certificate is issued on approval.
Article 5 of the Executive Regulations
The registers, statements and files the establishment must keep at the workplace, whether paper or electronic.
Two routes, decided by size
An establishment with fewer than fifty workers may select the unified template electronically through the ministry's website without any amendment or addition, follow the steps to approval, and receive an electronic certificate. This is the faster and cheaper route.
An establishment wanting its own regulations, with additional terms that do not conflict with the Law or its Regulations, must have them reviewed and certified by a law firm accredited on the ministry's website, which then submits them to the competent department.
Establishments with previously approved regulations
They are exempt from preparing new regulations under the unified template if all their provisions accord with the Law, the Regulations, the unified template and the decisions issued under them. Any conflicting provision is treated as repealed and must be amended through the same route.
Publication is a condition in itself
Approval alone is not enough. Article 13 requires the regulations and any amendment to be published in a visible place in the establishment or by any means ensuring those subject to them know their provisions, so they must reach employees rather than sit in an administrative folder.
Registers the Regulations require
- Workers list: names, occupations, ages, nationalities, ID numbers, and work permit numbers and dates for non-Saudis.
- Wages statement: wages, dates received, deductions and their reasons.
- Fines register: worker name, wage, fine amount, reason and date imposed.
- Attendance record: time in, time out, and any further data the employer adds.
- Saudi training register: programme name, type, duration, year, trainees and their proportion.
- Medical examination register for establishments whose workers may contract occupational diseases.
- A work file for each worker: their data, address, a copy of the contract, and any certificates or documents they submit.
What an establishment adds on top
- Policies that do not conflict with the Law: remote work, acceptable use of devices, confidentiality.
- Benefits above the statutory floor: more leave, allowances, broader insurance. More is allowed, less is not.
- Internal approval routes: who approves leave, who imposes a penalty, who decides a grievance.
- Grievance channels and deadlines consistent with Article 71 of the Regulations.
Practical steps
- 1Count your workers; the number decides which route applies.
- 2Open the work-regulations approval service on the ministry's website.
- 3If you choose the unified template, adopt it unchanged and follow the steps until the electronic certificate is issued.
- 4If you want bespoke regulations, have them reviewed and certified by an accredited law firm before submission.
- 5Publish the regulations visibly or by a means that actually reaches employees, and republish after every amendment.
- 6Set up the seven registers required by Article 5, on paper or electronically.
- 7Match your internal violations and penalties schedule line by line against the schedule in the Regulations before imposing any penalty.
Mistakes that recur
Working from a downloaded template
Regulations take effect only through ministry approval; an internally signed file is not enough.
Amending the unified template then adopting it as is
That route is conditioned on no amendment, and any addition moves the establishment to the bespoke route with law-firm certification.
Approval without publication
Publication visibly or by a means ensuring awareness is a separate requirement in Article 13.
Clauses below the statutory floor
Provisions conflicting with the Law are treated as repealed; only improvements on the minimum are permitted.
How the system saves the manual work
A matching penalty schedule
The violations schedule in Barez follows the schedule in the Regulations by grade and occurrence, so practice matches what was approved.
Registers ready to export
The workers list, wages statement, attendance record, fines register and per-employee file exist in the system and export on demand.
Approval routes defined
Who approves leave, who imposes a penalty and who decides a grievance are configured routes rather than verbal custom.
Sources
- Executive Regulations of the Labour Law, Ministry of Human Resources
- Saudi Labour Law, Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers
- Ministry of Human Resources e-services
This page is explanatory guidance, not legal advice. In a dispute, rely on the official text and consult the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development or a licensed lawyer.