Release from Work During Notice

What release from work during notice is

Release from work during notice (الإعفاء من العمل أثناء مهلة الإشعار) means that the employer relieves a worker of the duty to work between the notice of termination and the date the contract ends. The worker’s service still counts as continuous, and the worker’s wage is still due. The basis is the last sentence of Article 78 of the Saudi Labor Law (نظام العمل).

The Labor Law gives this step no name. It gives the employer a power to release the worker and attaches effects to it. The term garden leave, used in HR writing from other countries, is a comparative label that does not appear in the Labor Law.

What the last sentence of Article 78 of the Labor Law says

Article 78 of the Labor Law begins with a different rule, the worker’s absence to look for another job when the employer gave the notice. It ends with the sentence on release, which reads in Arabic:

ولصاحب العمل أن يعفي العامل من العمل أثناء مهلة الإشعار مع احتساب مدة خدمته مستمرة إلى حين انتهاء تلك المهلة، والتزام صاحب العمل بما يترتب على ذلك من آثار وبخاصة استحقاق العامل أجره عن مهلة الإشعار.

The English rendering is ours, not an official translation. The employer may relieve the worker from work during the notice period. The worker’s service is counted as continuous until the notice period ends. The employer remains bound by the effects of the release, in particular the worker’s entitlement to the wage for the notice period.

The sentence makes four provisions:

• The power. The Arabic wording is permissive (ولصاحب العمل أن يعفي). The employer may release the worker but is not obliged to.
• The object. The worker is released from work, meaning from performing it. The sentence does not end the contract.
• Continuity of service. The worker’s service counts as continuous until the notice period ends.
• The effect. The employer stays bound by the effects of the release, the wage for the notice period in particular.

Some sources say that the Labor Law does not address relieving a worker from attendance during the notice period. That statement is wrong. The sentence quoted above is part of Article 78 of the Labor Law in the consolidated text published on the website of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development. Royal Decree M/46 of 5/6/1436H last amended Article 78 of the Labor Law, and Royal Decree M/44 did not amend it.

In the sources we reviewed, we found no text on several practical points. The last sentence of Article 78 of the Labor Law refers to the notice period without saying whose notice is meant, and it follows a sentence about notice given by the employer, so we found nothing on whether it also covers notice given by the worker. We found no text on whether the release may cover the whole notice period or only part of it, whether the worker’s consent is needed or advance warning must be given, whether the worker may work for another employer during the release, whether the worker keeps the weekly job search absence described below, or whether the employer may call the worker back during the notice period. Article 78 of the Labor Law refers to the effects of the release and names the wage in particular. We found no text that lists other effects, such as allowances, benefits in kind or medical insurance.

Article 78 of the Labor Law and the Articles around it

Four consecutive Articles of the Labor Law deal with notice and its consequences:

• Article 75 of the Labor Law. It requires written notice, given for a legitimate reason, in a contract of unspecified duration with a monthly wage. The notice is at least thirty days before termination when the worker ends the contract and at least sixty days when the employer does. Royal Decree M/44 amended Article 75 of the Labor Law to those periods.
• Article 76 of the Labor Law. A party that ended a contract of unspecified duration without observing the notice period under Article 75 of the Labor Law must pay the other party, for the notice period, an amount equal to the worker’s wage for that period, unless the two agree on more. This case is covered under payment in lieu of notice.
• Article 77 of the Labor Law. It gives compensation for termination without a legitimate reason, which is covered under unlawful termination compensation.
• Article 78 of the Labor Law. It gives the absence to look for another job and then the power to release the worker from work.

The notice period is covered under notice period.

How release differs from payment in lieu of notice

In both cases the worker receives the wage for the notice period. They differ in three ways, according to our reading of Articles 76 and 78 of the Labor Law:

• Whether the notice period was observed. Under Article 76 of the Labor Law, a party that ended a contract of unspecified duration without observing the Article 75 notice period pays an amount equal to the wage for that period. In a release the notice period was observed, because the employer gave notice, and the employer then relieved the worker from work.
• Whether the contract continues. Article 78 of the Labor Law counts the worker’s service as continuous until the notice period ends. Our reading is that the contract continues until then, although the sentence does not say so in terms. Article 76 of the Labor Law says nothing about continuation, because it concerns a sum of money and not the contract.
• How the wage arises. Under Article 78 of the Labor Law the worker is entitled to the wage for the notice period. Under Article 76 of the Labor Law the party that ended the contract pays an amount equal to the worker’s wage for that period.

Neither Article 76 nor Article 78 of the Labor Law addresses a combination of the two, such as an employer who releases the worker, then shortens the period and pays the equivalent.

How release differs from the weekly job search absence

The first sentence of Article 78 of the Labor Law applies when the employer gave the notice. During the notice period the worker may be absent for one full day a week, or for eight hours a week, to look for another job, and is paid for the absence. The worker chooses the day or the hours and must tell the employer no later than the day before the absence.

The two provisions give the decision to different parties. The job search absence is the worker’s right, fixed at one day or eight hours a week. Release is the employer’s power, and the text does not fix how many days or hours it covers.

A worked example: sixty days of notice

A worker joined an establishment on 1 January 2021. The worker’s actual wage is SAR 9,000 a month, under a contract of unspecified duration with a monthly wage. On 1 November 2026 the employer gave written notice, for a legitimate reason, that the contract would end on 31 December 2026. So the notice period is sixty days under Article 75 of the Labor Law. On 16 November the employer released the worker from work. The figures are invented to illustrate the arithmetic.

• The wage for the notice period. Article 2 of the Labor Law defines the month as thirty days unless the employment contract or the work organisation regulation (لائحة تنظيم العمل) provides otherwise. We assume thirty days here, so the notice period is two months and its wage is SAR 9,000 × 2 = SAR 18,000. The release from 16 November does not reduce that wage, because Article 78 of the Labor Law keeps the entitlement to the wage for the notice period.
• Length of service. Service counts as continuous to 31 December 2026, which makes six full years from 1 January 2021. Without continuity it would stop on 15 November 2026, at about five years and ten and a half months.
• The end of service award. Article 84 of the Labor Law sets the end of service award (مكافأة نهاية الخدمة) at half a month’s wage for each of the first five years and one month’s wage for each later year. It is calculated on the last wage, and parts of a year are awarded in proportion to the time served. For six years the award is 2.5 × 9,000 + 1 × 9,000 = SAR 31,500. For five years and ten and a half months it would be 22,500 + 0.875 × 9,000 = SAR 30,375. The difference is SAR 1,125.

The example applies Articles 78 and 84 of the Labor Law to invented figures, and it assumes that the whole SAR 9,000 is actual wage. Continuity of service is covered under continuous service.

The settlement date after a release

Article 88 of the Labor Law requires the employer, when a worker’s service ends, to pay the wage and settle the worker’s entitlements within one week at most of the date the contractual relationship ends. If the worker ended the contract, the employer has no more than two weeks to settle the entitlements in full. The employer may deduct from the amounts due any debt the worker owes the employer because of the work.

Our reading of Article 78 of the Labor Law is that the contractual relationship continues to the end of the notice period. In the example it ends on 31 December 2026 and not on 15 November, so the settlement period under Article 88 of the Labor Law starts on 31 December. We found no text that addresses the settlement date after a release by name, so this is our reading. Settlement is covered under settlement of entitlements, and what the worker hands over on leaving is covered under exit clearance.

Arrangements that differ from release from work

• Suspension from work. It is a disciplinary penalty without pay, limited by Article 70 of the Labor Law to five days in the month, and it is covered under suspension. A released worker keeps the wage, and the release is not a penalty.
• Unpaid leave. The worker asks for it, the employer agrees, and no wage is paid. It is covered under unpaid leave.
• Termination by mutual agreement. The two parties agree to end the contract, on condition of the worker’s written consent, as covered under mutual termination. On our reading, a release does not end the contract before the notice period ends.
• Resignation. Article 79 bis of the Labor Law has separate provisions. Among them, the contract stays in force during the period of the resignation request, and both parties comply with their obligations in it. The financial effect of resignation is covered under gratuity on resignation.

What to document when releasing a worker

These are practical recommendations, not conditions found in the Article:

• The release letter. Issue it in writing. It should give the date the release starts and the date the notice period ends, and state that the wage continues and that service continues to count as continuous.
• The original notice. Keep the written notice of termination with the letter, together with the date the worker received it, so that the file shows the notice period was observed.
• The wage. Keep paying the wage on its normal date until the notice period ends, and show it on the wage statement.
• The handover. Arrange the return of company property and the handover of work in progress when the release starts, not on the last day.
• The settlement date. Count it from the date the notice period ends, and record that in the worker’s file.

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