2025 Labor Law Amendments (Royal Decree M/44)

What the 2025 Labor Law amendments are

The 2025 Labor Law amendments (Royal Decree M/44) (تعديلات نظام العمل لعام 2025 (م/44)) are the changes that Royal Decree No. M/44 dated 8/2/1446H made to the Labor Law. The decree is connected with Council of Ministers Decision No. 117 dated 2/2/1446H. The amendments took effect on 19 February 2025, which corresponds to 20/8/1446H. They are attributed to 2025 because that is the date on which they took effect. The date of the decree is a Hijri date in the year 1446.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced that the amendment covered 38 amended Articles, 7 deleted Articles and 2 added Articles. The title page of the consolidated text of the Labor Law lists the decrees that amended the Labor Law in this order: M/51, M/24, M/1, M/46, M/14, M/134, M/5 and M/44. Royal Decree M/44 is the last of them. M/51 is the decree dated 23/8/1426H that issued the Labor Law.

Two sources read together

Two sources that the Ministry publishes show what changed. Neither replaces the other:

• The consolidated text of the Labor Law. It is the text in force after Royal Decree M/44. Notes in its margins use wording of the kind «عدلت هذه المادة بناءً على المرسوم الملكي رقم (م/44)» (this Article was amended on the basis of Royal Decree No. M/44), «أضيفت» (added) and «ألغيت» (repealed). It shows what an Article says today and does not show what the Article used to say.
• The table titled «ملخص التعديلات التي تمت على نظام العمل» (summary of the amendments made to the Labor Law). The Ministry published it on 6 August 2024 in 20 pages. It sets out each Article in two columns, one for the text before the amendment and one for the text after it. It is the source that shows what changed.

The table has 47 rows. Sorting the rows by the status of each Article gives a count that agrees with the Ministry’s announcement: 38 rows show an amended Article, 7 rows say «تم الحذف» (deleted), and 2 rows show Articles that had no text before the amendment. The classification below rests on reading the two columns, and it is arranged by subject and not by Article number.

What the decree changed in the contract, the probation period and termination

• Article 51 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article required a written contract in two copies, one kept by each party. The decree added a requirement to authenticate the contract under the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the Implementing Regulation specifies. The duty is covered in writing, attesting and the mandatory particulars of the Saudi employment contract.
• Article 52 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article provided for one unified model contract. The decree provided a unified model for each type of work contract. It added to the minimum content of the model a statement of the rights and basic obligations of each party.
• Article 53 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the probation period was 90 days, and the parties could extend it to 180 days by written agreement. The calculation left out the holidays of Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha and sick leave. The contract could give the right to terminate during probation to one party only. The decree set the total period at no more than 180 days in all cases and referred the specification of the leave that is left out to the Implementing Regulation. It also gave each party the right to terminate during probation.
• Article 74 of the Labor Law. The decree added two items to the cases in which the work contract ends. Item 3 bis added resignation as a case. Item 7 bis added a final decision or judgment of the competent court that ends the worker’s contract in any of the bankruptcy procedures opened under the Bankruptcy Law.
• Article 75 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the notice period in a contract of unspecified duration was whatever the contract provided, but not less than 60 days for a worker paid monthly and not less than 30 days for any other worker. The same period applied to both parties. The decree distinguished the parties where the contract is of unspecified duration and pay is monthly: the worker gives at least 30 days of notice, and the employer gives at least 60 days of notice. Where pay is not monthly, either party gives 30 days of notice. The notice periods are explained under notice period.
• Article 79 bis of the Labor Law. The decree added this Article on resignation. A request to resign counts as accepted if the employer gives no reply within 30 days. The employer may defer acceptance for up to 60 days by giving the worker a written reasoned explanation before the 30 days end. The worker may withdraw the request within 7 days of submitting it, unless the employer accepted it before the worker withdrew. Article 79 bis of the Labor Law is set out in resignation in the Saudi Labor Law: Article 79 bis.

What the decree changed for non Saudi workers, employment and localisation

• Article 37 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, a contract that stated no term was taken to run for the term of the work permit. The decree provided that such a contract runs for one year from the date on which the worker actually starts work. If work continues after that year, the contract counts as renewed for a similar period.
• Article 40 of the Labor Law. The decree changed paragraph 1 only. It limited the employer’s bearing of the fines that result from delay in paying fees to the cases in which the employer causes the fines. Paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of Article 40 of the Labor Law stayed as they were.
• Article 35 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Ministry could decline to renew a work permit if the employer breached the standards for the localisation of jobs. The decree allowed the Ministry to decline for considerations that the Ministry assesses, and for a breach of any other requirement or control in the Implementing Regulation. It also referred to the Implementing Regulation the procedures that ensure the worker is not affected, among them transferring the worker’s service to another employer without the consent of the employer in breach.
• Articles 22, 23, 24, 25 and 27 of the Labor Law. The decree replaced the phrase «وحدات التوظيف» (employment units) with «قنوات التوظيف» (employment channels) wherever it appeared in these Articles.
• Articles 22 and 25 of the Labor Law. The decree made two changes. In item 3/3 of Article 22 of the Labor Law, the decree replaced «إحالة طلبات العمال للأعمال الشاغرة الملائمة» (referring workers’ applications to suitable vacant jobs) with «موائمة طلبات طالبي العمل مع الأعمال الشاغرة وفق مؤهلاتهم» (matching job seekers’ applications to vacant jobs according to their qualifications). In Article 25 of the Labor Law, the decree made the employer send the data on vacancies and on the employer’s workers to the Ministry, where the employer had sent them to the competent labour office (مكتب العمل المختص).
• Article 28 of the Labor Law. The decree replaced the word «المعوقين» (the disabled) with the phrase «ذوي الإعاقة» (persons with disabilities). It made the employer send the statement of the number of their jobs and their pay to the Ministry instead of the competent labour office. The rate of 4% of the total workers in an establishment that employs 25 workers or more did not change. The subject is described under employment of persons with disabilities.
• Article 30 of the Labor Law. The decree added outsourcing (الإسناد) to the activities of employing Saudis and recruiting workers, which no one may practise without a licence from the Ministry. It also added a second paragraph in which the Ministry proposes the amount of the fees for practising these activities.
• Article 31 of the Labor Law. The decree replaced the word «المكاتب» (offices) with the phrase «المكاتب أو الشركات» (offices or companies).
• Article 39 of the Labor Law. The decree merged the two paragraphs of the Article into one. The merged paragraph keeps the ban on an employer leaving a worker to work for another party or for the worker’s account. It also keeps the ban on a worker working for another employer or for the worker’s account. The old second paragraph, on catching self employed workers and deporting them, does not appear in the consolidated text. The merged paragraph provides that the Ministry of Human Resources refers to the Ministry of Interior the matters within the competence of the Ministry of Interior. It also provides that the Ministry of Interior refers to the Ministry of Human Resources the data of employers who violate, so that the penalties can be applied.

What the decree changed in training and qualification

• Article 42 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article obliged the employer to prepare Saudi workers to replace non Saudis gradually and to keep a register of those replaced. The decree obliged the employer to set a policy for training and qualifying its Saudi workers and referred the related provisions to the Implementing Regulation.
• Article 43 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, an employer with fifty workers or more had to qualify or train each year a number of Saudi workers equal to at least 12% of its total workers, and the Minister could raise the percentage. The decree obliged every employer to qualify or train the percentage of Saudi workers that the Minister sets by decision. The text no longer carries the figure of 12% or the threshold of fifty.
• Article 44 of the Labor Law. The decree added the skill in which the worker is trained to what the training programme contains.
• Article 46 of the Labor Law. The decree added the targeted skill, the rights of the trainee and of the employer, and the place of training to the particulars of the training contract.
• Article 47 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, an agreement between the Ministry and the establishment set the conditions and periods for admitting students and graduates. The decree made the Implementing Regulation set them. It also provided that the trainee and the employer conclude the training contract and that the establishment may give a reward.
• Article 48 of the Labor Law. The decree based the employer’s right to end the training contract, because the trainee cannot complete the programme, on periodic evaluation reports (تقارير تقويم دورية) that the establishment providing the training or qualification prepares. It provided that neither party may claim compensation from the other unless the contract provides for it.

What the decree changed in duties, discipline, pay and leave

• Article 61 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article had three items. The decree added items 4, 5 and 6. Item 4 requires the employer to refrain from anything that nullifies or weakens equality of opportunity and of treatment in employment and occupation. Item 5 requires the employer to provide suitable housing, and item 6 requires the employer to provide a suitable means of transport. For housing and transport, the employer may substitute a suitable cash allowance.
• Article 72 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the worker could object to a penalty decision before the labour court within 15 days, excluding official holidays. The decree replaced that with three steps. First, the worker submits a written grievance to the competent body at the employer within 30 days, excluding official holidays. Second, that body has 15 days to decide it. Third, the worker may object before the labour courts within 30 days, excluding official holidays.
• Article 107 of the Labor Law. The decree added a provision to the overtime pay. With the worker’s consent, the employer may credit the worker with days of paid compensatory leave in place of the pay due for the overtime hours. The Article refers the related provisions to the Implementing Regulation.
• Article 113 of the Labor Law. The decree added a leave of three days on the death of a brother or a sister. It provided that the days of leave are counted from the date of the event, and that the three days of leave on the birth of a child are to be taken within seven days of the date of birth.
• Article 151 of the Labor Law. The decree raised maternity leave to 12 weeks at full pay. Before the decree, maternity leave was ten weeks, of which six weeks after delivery were compulsory.

What the decree changed in definitions, scope and the maritime work contract

• Article 2 of the Labor Law. The decree added two definitions. Outsourcing (الإسناد) is a service of providing a worker to work for a party other than the employer, through an establishment licensed for that purpose. Resignation (الاستقالة) is the worker’s written statement, made without coercion, of the wish to end a fixed term work contract, with no restriction or condition attached to it, together with the employer’s acceptance. The table prints the definitions of continuous service, basic wage and actual wage in the same words before and after the decree. The definition of continuous service is addressed under continuous service.
• Article 7 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article excluded six categories of workers from the Labor Law. The decree deleted the category of sea workers on ships of less than five hundred tons, which left five categories. It added to paragraph 2 that the penalties of Article 229 of the Labor Law apply to a violation of the regulations issued for some categories. It also added a paragraph 3 on improving the performance of the labour market for domestic workers, agricultural workers and herdsmen.
• Article 168 of the Labor Law. The decree referred the definitions of ship, ship operator, master, seaman and maritime work contract to the Commercial Maritime Law (النظام البحري التجاري).
• Article 178 of the Labor Law. Before the decree, the Article provided that the food and sleeping accommodation of seamen are at the expense of the ship operator, as a ministerial decision regulates. The decree provided that the Minister issues, in coordination with the Transport General Authority, a regulation that organises the maritime work contract.
• Article 182 of the Labor Law. The decree limited termination of the contract without notice and without compensation to the case in which the voyage is cancelled before it begins. The Labor Law keeps the chapter on the maritime work contract.

What the decree changed in inspection and penalties

• The seven deleted Articles. The decree deleted Articles 195, 197, 203, 205, 206, 207 and 208 of the Labor Law, all in the chapter on inspection. The consolidated text marks each of them with the word «ملغاة» (repealed). They had dealt with the conditions for appointing a labour inspector, the inspector’s pledge of integrity and identity card, the report that records a violation, the monthly and annual inspection reports, the models of reports and registers, and the training of inspectors.
• Article 196 of the Labor Law. The decree changed item 3 so that the inspectors notify the competent persons at the Ministry (المختصين بالوزارة) of the shortcomings that the existing provisions fail to address.
• Article 198 of the Labor Law. The decree allowed the inspector to enter an establishment at any time during its working times. Before the decree, the Article allowed entry at any time of day or night.
• Article 199 of the Labor Law. The decree added the persons responsible for the employers and their agents at the workplace to those who must provide facilities to inspectors. The Arabic wording of the addition is «ومسؤوليهم في مكان العمل».
• Article 209 of the Labor Law. The decree moved the power to issue the implementing regulation for the control of inspection work from the Council of Ministers to the Minister. The powers of the inspector are discussed in labor inspection: inspector powers and establishment duties.
• Article 229 bis of the Labor Law. The decree added this Article. It provides a fine of not less than SAR 200,000 and not more than SAR 500,000 for a person who violates paragraph 1 of Article 30 of the Labor Law by practising the activity of employing Saudis, recruiting workers or outsourcing without a licence. It applies without prejudice to Article 229 of the Labor Law.
• Article 230 of the Labor Law. The decree changed several provisions of the Article. Among them, the decision to settle a violation by payment of a fine that the Ministry assesses is now issued by the Minister or by the person whom the Minister delegates. Before the decree, the Minister issued it.

What the decree did not change

Matching an Article against the rows of the table and against the margin notes of the consolidated text shows whether Royal Decree M/44 left it untouched. The following Articles of the Labor Law are not among the 47 rows of the table: Articles 55, 58, 60, 66 to 71, 76, 77, 78, 80, 83, 84 and 87, Articles 90 to 106, Articles 108, 109 and 111, and Articles 121 to 150 and 152 to 167. Each of them is either not amended at all or amended by an earlier decree, such as Royal Decree M/46, and not by Royal Decree M/44.

Article 76 of the Labor Law is on the allowance in place of notice, Article 77 of the Labor Law is on compensation for unlawful termination, and Article 78 of the Labor Law is on the chance to look for a job during the notice period. Each stands in the text that it had before Royal Decree M/44. That an Article is not mentioned in the table does not mean that no other instrument changed it afterwards, so the published consolidated text should be consulted.

This is an explanation of the concept and of the statutory provisions cited, not legal advice.