Light Work

What light work means

Light work (الأعمال الخفيفة) is a statutory expression in the Saudi Labor Law (نظام العمل). In the consolidated text of the Labor Law it appears only in paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law, where it marks out a category of work for which the Minister may make an exception to the minimum working age.

Light work is a legal term, not a managerial description of workload. When a manager says that a task is light, or that one role is lighter than another, the remark has nothing to do with the statutory expression and carries none of its effect. That everyday sense belongs to workload management, which is a separate subject in human resources. The statutory sense is narrower: light work is a category of work tied to an exception from a rule about age.

The expression cannot be understood apart from the rule it qualifies, so the explanation that follows starts with Article 162 of the Labor Law as a whole, then sets out what its second paragraph does and does not do, and then places it beside the Implementing Regulation and Article 167 of the Labor Law.

Article 162 of the Labor Law and light work: the two paragraphs

Article 162 of the Labor Law has two paragraphs, and light work sits in the second.

1. Paragraph 1. No person who has not completed fifteen years of age may be employed, and such a person is not permitted to enter the workplace. It also allows the Minister, by decision, to raise this age in certain industries, in certain regions or for certain categories of young persons.
2. Paragraph 2. By way of exception to paragraph 1, the Minister may permit the employment or work of persons aged between 13 and 15 in light work, subject to two conditions. The work must not be likely to be harmful to their health or growth. It must also not disrupt their attendance at school or their participation in guidance or vocational training programmes, and it must not weaken their ability to benefit from the education they receive.

Read together, the two paragraphs set a general rule and then a door that only the Minister can open. Paragraph 1 is the rule that applies to every employer. Paragraph 2 describes the work for which the Minister may allow an exception, and the conditions that work has to meet.

Light work under paragraph 2: a power, not a permission

One error in this area is to read paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law as if it allowed employers to engage a person below fifteen in light work. It does not. The provision does not permit the employment of a person below fifteen; it empowers the Minister to permit it, and only on the two conditions it lists. The difference is the difference between a rule that already applies and a power that exists but has to be exercised before it has any effect on an employer.

In the sources we reviewed, we found no decision of the Minister issued under paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law, whether a decision defining light work or a decision permitting it. Two statements follow from that, and they point in opposite directions. It cannot be said that a person who has reached thirteen may be employed in the Kingdom. It cannot be said either that paragraph 2 does not exist or that it has been repealed, because it remains in the text of the Labor Law in force.

Light work has no list and no definition in Article 162 of the Labor Law

Article 162 of the Labor Law does not define light work. The provision gives no list of light work and no test for telling it apart from other work. What it gives are two negative descriptions: the work must not be likely to harm health or growth, and it must not disrupt schooling. In the sources we reviewed, we found no list of light work in the Labor Law or in the Implementing Regulation (اللائحة التنفيذية).

A list of light work that is presented as coming from the Labor Law therefore attributes to the Labor Law something that is not in it. Deciding what counts as light work falls to the decision that paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law leaves to the Minister.

The provisions on hazardous work do not supply that list. Article 32 of the Implementing Regulation, which gives examples of the work closed to young persons under Article 161 of the Labor Law, is framed for a young person who has completed fifteen and has not reached eighteen, and it does not address the band from 13 to 15. It gives examples of work that is closed, not a list of light work. The rules on hazardous work and the documents required before a young person is employed are set out in our guide to work prohibited for juveniles and their employment documents.

Light work and Article 33 of the Implementing Regulation

Article 33 of the Implementing Regulation was issued to implement Article 162 of the Labor Law itself. It provides that a person who has not completed fifteen may not be employed in any circumstances, save the cases set out in Article 167 of the Labor Law.

On their face, the two texts point in different directions. The Labor Law keeps a power for the Minister over the band from 13 to 15, while the Implementing Regulation states the prohibition below fifteen in absolute terms and makes an exception only for Article 167 of the Labor Law. A third provision adds to the difficulty. Article 2 of the Labor Law defines a young person (الحدث) as a person who has completed fifteen years of age and has not reached eighteen. The band from 13 to 15 therefore falls outside that definition altogether, and the provisions of Part Ten of the Labor Law on the employment of young persons are drafted around a category to which this band does not belong.

How the Labor Law and the Implementing Regulation are to be reconciled on this point is a legal question, not an editorial one, and the definition of light work adopts no reading of it. What can be stated, whichever reading is right, is the following:

• Fifteen is the minimum working age. It is set by paragraph 1 of Article 162 of the Labor Law.
• The Labor Law reserves an exception to the Minister. Paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law allows the Minister to permit light work for persons between 13 and 15.
• The Implementing Regulation states the prohibition in absolute terms. Article 33 of the Implementing Regulation bars employment below fifteen in any circumstances, with no exception other than Article 167 of the Labor Law.
• No decision was found. In the sources we reviewed, we found no decision issued under paragraph 2 of Article 162 of the Labor Law.

The same four points, with the rules on hours and night work for young persons, are brought together in our guide to working age in Saudi Arabia and the limits on employing juveniles.

Light work and the figure of fourteen in Article 167 of the Labor Law

The figure of fourteen is not a second minimum age, and it is not an age for light work either. Article 167 of the Labor Law provides that the provisions of Part Ten of the Labor Law do not apply to work done by children and young persons in schools for the purposes of general, vocational or technical education, or in other training institutions.

Article 167 of the Labor Law also excludes work done in establishments by persons who have reached at least fourteen, where that work is carried out on conditions the Minister lays down and forms an essential part of one of three things: an educational or training course whose principal responsibility rests with a school or a training institution; a training programme carried out wholly or mostly in an establishment, where the competent authority has approved it; or a guidance programme intended to make it easier to choose an occupation or a type of training.

Two points can be lost when Article 167 of the Labor Law is summarised. First, the exemption is from the provisions of Part Ten, not from the Labor Law as a whole. Second, fourteen is the lower limit of a narrow exemption for education and training, and in the sources we reviewed, we found no decision setting the conditions the Minister is to lay down for it. Reading Article 167 of the Labor Law as setting a working age of fourteen turns an exemption into a rule.

Hours, conditions and fines for light work

In the sources we reviewed, we found no hours and no conditions of employment set for the band from 13 to 15. The rules on hours in Part Ten of the Labor Law, including the six hour daily ceiling in Article 164 of the Labor Law, are written for the young person as Article 2 of the Labor Law defines that person, that is, for someone who has completed fifteen.

On penalties, the Schedule of Violations and Penalties (Ministerial Decision No. 112377) includes a violation for employing children who have not completed fifteen, contrary to Article 167 of the Labor Law. The Schedule classes it as grave, and the fine is multiplied by the number of children employed. We give no single amount for it, because the row sets three amounts according to the size of the establishment, and the amount for any one establishment has to be taken from the Schedule with all three columns in view.

Royal Decree M/44, which amended the Labor Law with effect from 19 February 2025, did not amend Articles 161 to 167 of the Labor Law, so Article 162 and Article 167 of the Labor Law stand as they were enacted under Royal Decree M/51. Royal Decree M/44 did amend Article 2 of the Labor Law by adding new definitions, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development prints the definition of a young person in the same words before and after the amendment.

Any decision to employ a person in the band from 13 to 15, whether in light work or under a training programme, is a matter to put to a specialist before it is taken.

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