What the articles say
Three consecutive articles govern annual leave: Article 109 sets its length and timing, Article 110 its postponement, and Article 111 the pay for unused days when the worker leaves.
Article 109: length and timing
"For each year the worker is entitled to annual leave of not less than twenty-one days, increased to not less than thirty days if the worker has completed five continuous years in the employer's service. The leave is paid, with the wage paid in advance."
Article 109, paragraph 1, Saudi Labor Law, original text, never amended. Unofficial working translation for awareness only; the official text is the Arabic published by the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers.
Both figures are minimums, so a contract may give more. The second paragraph of the article adds the rules on timing:
- The worker must take the leave in the year it falls due.
- The worker may not waive it, or receive cash in place of taking it, during the service.
- The employer may set the leave dates according to work needs, or grant leave in rotation to keep the work running.
- The employer must notify the worker of the leave date sufficiently in advance, not less than thirty days.
Article 110: postponement
- At the worker's request: the worker may postpone the annual leave, or some days of it, to the following year, with the employer's consent.
- By the employer: the employer may postpone the leave after the end of the year it fell due, for up to 90 days, if work circumstances require.
- Beyond that: the worker's written consent is needed, and the postponement may not go beyond the end of the year following the year the leave fell due.
Article 111: pay on leaving
A worker who leaves before using the leave days due is entitled to be paid for them, for the period for which no leave was taken. The worker is also entitled to leave pay for parts of a year, in proportion to the time worked.
What does "five continuous years" mean?
Article 109 does not itself define "continuous". The closest definition in the Law is "continuous service" in Article 2: the worker's uninterrupted service with the same employer or the employer's legal successor from the start date. Service still counts as continuous in three cases:
- leave and holidays prescribed by law;
- time off to sit examinations as provided in the Law;
- unpaid absence of no more than twenty intermittent days in the work year.
Who it applies to
These articles apply to workers under contracts governed by the Labor Law. This explainer covers the private sector under the Labor Law. It does not cover civil servants or military personnel, who have their own systems. Article 7 also excludes some groups from the Law, among them domestic workers, for whom the Minister issues a special regulation. For part-time workers, the Law applies only as far as occupational safety and health, work injuries and what the Minister decides are concerned (Article 5).
A hypothetical example with round numbers
The figures below are hypothetical and for illustration only. A worker earns an actual wage of SAR 6,000 a month, so a day's wage is SAR 200 on a thirty-day month, and is entitled to 21 days a year. The worker leaves after three years and six months, having taken the full leave for the first three years and none for the last six months.
- Share for the six months: half a year's entitlement, 10.5 days, under the part-year rule in Article 111.
- Pay for those days: 10.5 days at SAR 200 a day, SAR 2,100.
- If instead the worker had postponed five days of the third year's leave, with the employer's consent, and never used them: they are added to the balance, making 15.5 days, paid at SAR 3,100.
To estimate your own balance, use the annual leave calculator. It gives a guidance estimate only, not a legal opinion.
Common misconceptions
- "Annual leave is exactly 21 days." The text says "not less than twenty-one days", so it is a floor, and so is the thirty days after five continuous years.
- "Leave can be cashed in during employment." Article 109 bars cash in place of leave during the service. Pay for unused days on leaving is governed by Article 111.
- "The worker alone picks the leave dates." The employer may set the dates according to work needs, giving the worker at least thirty days' notice.
- "Postponed leave carries over without limit." Article 110 caps postponement: 90 days by the employer, then only with the worker's written consent, and no later than the end of the year after the year the leave fell due.
- "The 2025 amendments changed annual leave." The amendments under Royal Decree M/44 did not include Articles 109 to 111.
Related articles
- Article 112: every worker is entitled to leave on full pay on the Eids and occasions set by the Regulation.
- Articles 113 and 117: marriage, bereavement and new-baby leave, and sick leave.
- Article 82: the worker may ask for annual leave to be joined to sick leave.
- Articles 84 to 88: the end-of-service award and the deadline to settle entitlements, including Article 88, which requires the employer to pay the wage and settle the worker's entitlements within one week at most from the end of the contractual relationship, or within no more than two weeks if the worker ended the contract.
Official source
The full text of the Labor Law and its amendments is published on the Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers portal. The Arabic text published there is the official reference.