Dismissal Protection and Iddah Leave in the Saudi Labor Law

Chapter Nine of the Saudi Labor Law holds two articles that govern two unrelated situations, and they share one thing: each was amended by a separate Royal Decree, years before the 2025 amendments: Article 155 on protection from dismissal, and Article 160 on iddah leave.

This guide adds two more provisions from the same chapter, sitting exactly where written policies tend to get it wrong: Article 157 on forfeiture of entitlement, and Article 159 on nursery facilities.

1. Article 155: protection from dismissal and from notice of dismissal

Article 155 provides that the employer may not terminate a female employee’s contract, nor give her notice of termination, while she is on maternity leave, nor during her pregnancy.

The phrase “nor give her notice of termination” is deliberate in the text: the prohibition does not stop at ending the contract: it reaches giving notice itself during either period.

2. The protection extends to illness, on two conditions

The article extends this protection to the period of an illness arising from either of these two conditions, subject to two stated requirements:

• The illness must be proven by an accredited medical certificate.
• Total absences must not exceed 180 days in the year, whether consecutive or intermittent.

The second condition is measured by the total, not by the length of any one absence, since the text says “consecutive or intermittent.”

3. What Article 155 does not say

Two things get added to this article that are not in it:

First, the article does not say the contract cannot end by any other route. A fixed-term contract expiring at the end of its term, resignation and the cases under Article 80 are governed by their own separate articles. The Article 80 cases are covered in dismissal without gratuity and leaving work without notice, and notice is covered in the notice period and ending an employment contract.

Second, the article does not set a rule for what happens after the 180 days. It sets a condition on how far the protection extends, not a consequence that follows once the period runs out. What happens after that is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

4. Article 156 is repealed, and its rule sits in Article 155

A footnote to Article 155 records that Article 156 was amended and then repealed after its rule was merged into Article 155, by Royal Decree M/134 dated 27/11/1440H.

So a reference to Article 156 in a policy or a contract is a reference to an article that no longer exists; the rule that remains is Article 155. What Article 156 used to provide before repeal is not restated in this guide, because the updated text does not republish a repealed article’s wording.

5. Article 155’s amendment date is not 2025

The decree that amended Article 155 is M/134, dated 27/11/1440H. Royal Decree M/44, in force since 19 February 2025, did not touch any article between 121 and 167 except Article 151 alone, per both the updated text’s footnotes and the comparative amendments table. So attributing Article 155’s amendment to the 2025 amendments attributes it to the wrong instrument. The date here is Hijri as it appears in the source, and has not been converted to the Gregorian calendar.

6. Article 160: iddah leave for the Muslim employee

The first paragraph of Article 160 provides that a Muslim female employee whose husband dies is entitled to iddah leave on full pay, for a period of no less than 4 months and 10 days from the date of death.

The text also addresses pregnancy: if she is pregnant during this period, she is entitled to extend the leave without pay until she gives birth, and she may not, after giving birth, use whatever remains of the iddah leave to which she is entitled under this Law.

7. Iddah leave for the non-Muslim employee

The second paragraph of Article 160 provides that a non-Muslim female employee whose husband dies is entitled to leave on full pay for 15 days.

8. A floor in one paragraph, a fixed number in the other

The two paragraphs are worded differently, and the difference is a matter of substance, not drafting:

• The first paragraph says “no less than.” The period there is a floor.
• The second paragraph states 15 days without that phrase. It is a fixed period.

A page that presents the two paragraphs side by side, writing “4 months and 10 days” as a fixed figure the way it writes “15 days,” drops the “no less than” from the first paragraph. Dropping a floor turns it into a closed period, which is a change in the rule, not just in presentation.

9. A bar on working for another employer, and a right to request documents

The article closes with two rules that apply in all cases:

• An employee whose husband has died may not work for another employer during this period.
• The employer may request supporting documents for these situations.

10. Article 157: forfeiture of entitlement, and its scope

Article 157 provides that an employee forfeits her entitlement under the provisions of this chapter if she works for another employer during the leave granted to her. In that case, the original employer may withhold her pay for the leave period, or recover what was paid to her, a forfeiture that lands on how the paid-leave benefit was recorded in the first place; see employee benefits accounting for how such entitlements are classified and measured.

The governing phrase in the article is “under the provisions of this chapter.” The forfeiture applies to entitlements under Chapter Nine, not to the employee’s rights under the Law at large. How far this forfeiture reaches in a specific case is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

11. Article 159: two thresholds together, and a power that creates no obligation on its own

The first paragraph is a standalone duty: every employer employing 50 or more female employees must prepare a suitable place with a sufficient number of caregivers to look after the employees’ children under 6 years of age, if the number of children reaches 10 or more.

The two thresholds apply together: 50 female employees and 10 children under six. A page that mentions the fifty and drops the ten widens the duty beyond what the text provides.

The second paragraph is not a duty. It provides that the Minister may require an employer employing 100 or more female employees in a single city to establish a nursery, or to join with other employers in the same city, or to contract with an existing nursery, to look after the employees’ children under six during working hours, and in that case to set the nursery’s conditions, arrangements and the share of costs borne by the employees using the service.

The second paragraph is a power granted to the Minister, using the word “may,” and creates no obligation on the employer until a decision is issued under it. This guide did not find a decision issued under this paragraph. Saying that an establishment employing 100 female employees is obliged to provide a nursery is not something the text alone supports. Whether this obligation exists in a specific case is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

12. Iddah leave and bereavement leave under Article 113

Two articles address death from the angle of leave entitlement, each with a different rule: Article 113 grants an employee 5 days of paid leave on the death of a spouse or an ascendant or descendant, and 3 days on the death of a brother or sister. Article 160 grants iddah leave.

Article 113 opens with the phrase “subject to the female employee’s leave entitlements set out in this Law.” So for a Muslim female employee whose husband dies, the applicable rule is Article 160.

For occasion leaves in detail, see sick leave and occasion leaves.

13. The amendment record for these two articles

The updated text’s footnotes record that Article 155 was amended by Decree M/134, dated 27/11/1440H, and that Article 160 was amended by Decree M/46, dated 5/6/1436H.

As for Articles 157 and 159, neither carries an amendment footnote, and neither appears in the comparative amendments table. Whether they were amended by an instrument more recent than the published text is not something this guide found an explicit case for, so it should not be asserted either way; refer to the updated regulatory text on that point.

14. What the text does not address

• What happens once the 180 days of absence under Article 155 have run out. The article sets a condition, not a consequence. The effect that follows is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• Which body accredits the medical certificate referred to in Article 155 is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• How far the forfeiture in Article 157 reaches in a specific case is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• Whether a decision has been issued under the second paragraph of Article 159, and its conditions and cost share. This guide did not find one. That is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• What Article 156 used to provide before repeal. The updated text does not republish its wording. Finding it is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• The penalties for violating these articles. This guide states no amount. The penalty in force is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

15. What your system should record

• Pregnancy or maternity-leave status at the time any termination or notice decision is issued, since the Article 155 prohibition reaches the notice itself.
• The running total of absence days in the year as a rolling balance, not each absence in isolation, since the condition is measured by the total, whether consecutive or intermittent, the same rolling-balance logic used in payroll accrual for earned-but-unpaid entitlements.
• The accredited medical certificate and its date, since this is a fact worth adding to the record.
• The date of death in Article 160 cases, since it is the date from which the period is calculated.
• The employee’s religion as the article frames it, since the two paragraphs diverge on it, with a different wording of the period in each.
• The supporting documents the employer requested, and the date they were submitted.
• The number of female employees and the number of their children under six, since the Article 159 duty is conditioned on both figures together.

16. Checklist

• Do your procedures bar giving notice of termination during pregnancy and maternity leave, not only termination itself?
• Is absence counted as an annual total reaching 180 days, or each absence separately?
• Does your policy state the iddah-leave period with the words “no less than,” or as a fixed number?
• Does your policy distinguish between the first and second paragraphs of Article 160 in the nature of the period, not only its length?
• Does it provide for extending a pregnant employee’s leave without pay until she gives birth, and its effect on the remaining period?
• Does any document you hold refer to the repealed Article 156?
• Does any record of yours state that an establishment employing 100 female employees is obliged to provide a nursery?
• Does your system track the number of female employees and the number of their children under six together, or only one of the two?

17. Why this turns into a problem

These articles share one feature: the rule is triggered by an event, not by a decision: a pregnancy, a maternity leave, a spouse’s death, or two thresholds being reached together. The event happens outside the approvals cycle, and news of it reaches the file late, or does not reach it at all.

As a result, the error does not lie in knowing the period; it lies in knowing the situation at the moment action is taken: a notice issued without realizing it falls within a protected period, an absence treated as a fresh start so the running total is not reported, or a nursery duty measured by headcount alone.

The amendment record adds to this: two articles amended by two separate decrees in 1440H and 1436H, and a third repealed with its rule merged elsewhere. Anyone following only the 2025 amendments sees none of this, because none of it happened in them.

This is where having every employee fact in one file earns its keep. That is what Qoyod HR provides: a single employee file holding the contract, documents and their expiry dates with advance alerts, an attendance record for every employee, and their leave, salary and end-of-service dues. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system. It is a standalone HR system on its own subscription, and the connection to Qoyod Accounting is now available.

For the nursing hour and medical care provided for under Articles 153 and 154 of the same chapter, see the nursing hour and medical care for the working woman. For end-of-service entitlements once a contract ends, see the end-of-service benefits glossary entry and the end-of-service calculator.

For more guides and templates, browse the HR resource center.

Frequently asked questions

How long is iddah leave under the Saudi Labor Law?

Article 160 grants a Muslim female employee whose husband dies iddah leave on full pay for a period of no less than 4 months and 10 days from the date of death. The text says “no less than,” so the period is a floor, not a fixed figure.

How long is iddah leave for a non-Muslim employee?

The second paragraph of Article 160 grants a non-Muslim female employee whose husband dies leave on full pay for 15 days. This paragraph states a fixed period, without the “no less than” wording used in the first paragraph.

What if the employee is pregnant during the iddah period?

Article 160 entitles her to extend the leave without pay until she gives birth, and she may not, after giving birth, use whatever remains of the iddah leave to which she is entitled under this Law.

When may a female employee not be dismissed?

Article 155 provides that the employer may not terminate a female employee’s contract, nor give her notice of termination, while she is on maternity leave or during her pregnancy. The protection extends to a period of illness arising from either, provided the illness is proven by an accredited medical certificate and total absences do not exceed 180 days in the year, consecutive or intermittent.

Must an establishment employing 50 female employees provide a nursery?

The first paragraph of Article 159 requires an employer with 50 or more female employees to prepare a suitable place with enough caregivers to look after the employees’ children under 6, if the number of children reaches 10 or more. The two thresholds apply together; mentioning the fifty and dropping the ten widens the duty beyond the text.

Did the 2025 amendments change Article 155 or Article 160?

Article 155 was amended by Royal Decree M/134, dated 27/11/1440H, and Article 160 was amended by Royal Decree M/46, dated 5/6/1436H. Royal Decree M/44, in force since 19 February 2025, did not touch any article between 121 and 167 except Article 151 alone.

Regulatory references

This guide is based on the Saudi Labor Law issued by Royal Decree M/51 dated 23/8/1426H, in its updated text: Article 155 (protection from dismissal and notice of dismissal), Article 157 (forfeiture of entitlement on working for another employer), Article 159 (nursery facilities, both paragraphs) and Article 160 (iddah leave). It refers to Article 113 for contrast rather than detail, to Article 80 as a standalone rule, and to Article 156 as repealed.

On the amendments: the updated text’s footnotes record Article 155’s amendment by Decree M/134, dated 27/11/1440H, Article 160’s amendment by Decree M/46, dated 5/6/1436H, and the repeal of Article 156 after its rule was merged into Article 155 by Decree M/134. Dates are Hijri as they appear in the source, and none has been converted to the Gregorian calendar.

Royal Decree M/44 of 1446H, in force since 19 February 2025, was not found by this guide to have amended any article between 121 and 167 other than Article 151. As for Articles 157 and 159 and whether a more recent instrument amended them, this guide found no explicit case of amendment, so neither claim should be asserted; refer to the updated regulatory text on that point.

This guide is regulatory explanation, not legal advice. In an active dispute or a specific case, the regulatory text and the competent authority remain the reference.