The full award (Article 84)
When your contract ends, or your employer ends it without a reason that takes away the award, you get the full end-of-service award:
- Half a month's wage for each of the first five years of service.
- A full month's wage for each year after five.
- Parts of a year are paid in proportion to the time you worked.
The award is based on your last wage, which in Saudi Arabia means your full wage including fixed allowances such as housing and transport, not only the basic salary.
Example: 10 years of service, last wage 10,000 SAR. The first five years give 5 × 5,000 = 25,000 SAR and the next five give 5 × 10,000 = 50,000 SAR. Total: 75,000 SAR.
If you resign (Article 85)
If you resign, you get only part of the award, depending on how long you worked:
| Service | What you get |
|---|---|
| Less than 2 years | Nothing |
| 2 to 5 years | One third of the award |
| 5 to 10 years | Two thirds of the award |
| 10 years or more | The full award |
Example: you resign after 4 years on 8,000 SAR. The full award would be 4 × 4,000 = 16,000 SAR; one third of it is 5,333.33 SAR. Had you waited for your contract to end, you would have received the full 16,000 SAR.
When you get the full award even though you left
- Article 81: you left because the employer broke the contract, did not pay you, assaulted you or was dishonest about the work.
- Article 87: you left because of force majeure, or as a woman within six months of marriage or three months of giving birth.
- Your fixed-term contract ended and was not renewed: that is not a resignation.
You get nothing if you are dismissed under Article 80, for serious misconduct such as assault, fraud or long unexcused absence. Even then, the employer must follow the procedure in the law.
Getting paid
The employer must pay within one week if it ended the contract, and within two weeks if you did (Article 88). If you are not paid, file a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources through its website or app, or call 19911. Keep your contract, salary slips and a printout of your calculation.
Work out your own figure in seconds with our Saudi end-of-service calculator. Working elsewhere in the Gulf? See the UAE gratuity calculator or the Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain calculator.