The Employment Contract in the Saudi Labor Law: Form and Mandatory Contents

An employment contract in the Saudi Labor Law is not merely a page to be signed. Article 51 requires it to be written in two copies and to be attested, Article 52 sets its mandatory contents, Article 9 imposes Arabic, and Article 8 invalidates every condition contravening the law.

The attestation duty is new in the 2025 text: Article 51 before the amendment made by Royal Decree M/44 required the two copies and did not mention attestation. This guide explains what the text requires, where its limits fall, and what a printed template cannot do.

1. Written in two copies, and attested

Article 51 provides that the contract be drawn up in two copies, one delivered to each party, and that it must be attested in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions and in light of what the regulation specifies.

The attestation duty is what M/44 added to this article. The previous text stopped at the two copies.

The contract stands even if it is not written

The same article adds that the contract is deemed to exist even if it is not written. In that case the worker alone may prove the contract and the rights arising from it by all means of proof, and either party may demand that it be put in writing at any time.

The absence of writing does not extinguish the contract. And the right to prove by all means is established for the worker alone, not for the employer.

As for government and public-institution workers, the appointment decision stands in place of the contract.

2. Language: Arabic is the rule

Article 9 imposes the Arabic language in data, records, files and employment contracts. A foreign language may be used alongside Arabic, and if the two texts differ the Arabic text alone is the authoritative one.

Accordingly, a contract in Arabic, or in Arabic with a translation, conforms to the text. A contract in English alone does not.

3. The calendar: Hijri unless otherwise stipulated

Article 10 provides that periods and dates under the Labor Law are reckoned by the Hijri calendar, unless otherwise stipulated in the employment contract or in the work-organisation regulation.

A contract that runs on Gregorian dates therefore needs to stipulate that expressly. The effect of this choice extends to every period in the relationship: the accrual year, the notice periods, and the reckoning of the length of service.

4. The mandatory contents

Article 52 provides, having regard to the provisions of Article 37, that the Ministry shall issue a unified template for each type of employment contract, including as a minimum nine items, among them the agreed wage including benefits and allowances, the type of work and its place, the worker’s address of residence, and the basic rights and obligations of each party.

M/44 changed this article in three places: the template became one for each type of contract after having been a single template, the ninth item was added, and the wording of the term item changed.

The second paragraph provides that the contract shall comply with this template, and that the two parties may add further clauses so long as they do not conflict with the law, its regulation and the decisions issued in implementation of it.

The nine items item by item, and the limits of what may be added to the template, are set out in The mandatory contents of a Saudi employment contract.

When a contract is fixed-term and when it converts to indefinite-term is set out in Fixed-term and indefinite-term contracts and conversion.

5. What may not be agreed

Article 8 provides that every condition contravening the provisions of the Labor Law is void, and likewise every release or settlement of the worker’s rights arising from the law during the currency of the contract, unless it is more favourable to the worker.

The parties’ power of addition that Article 52 establishes is therefore governed by this limit: additional clauses are permitted, and a clause contravening the law is void even if it has been signed.

6. The work-organisation regulation

Article 13 requires every employer to prepare a regulation for organising work in accordance with the template the Ministry approves, and to post it in a visible place for those to whom its provisions apply.

Its connection to the contract is direct: the second paragraph of Article 52 provides that clauses added to the contract must not conflict with the law and its regulation and the decisions issued in implementation of it. The regulation is therefore one of the three things against which every added clause is measured.

The law refers other matters to the regulation as well, among them the source of penalties, the adopted calendar and occasion leave. That is set out in detail in The work-organisation regulation: what Article 13 requires and what the law leaves to it.

7. Attestation runs through the Qiwa platform

Writing and attestation are two distinct obligations in the 2025 text: the two copies in Article 51 are one thing, and the attestation duty M/44 added to it is another. Satisfying the first does not dispense with the second.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development manages the attestation of contracts through the Qiwa platform. And since 15 April 2026 the Saudisation percentages in Nitaqat are reckoned from the contracts electronically attested on it.

The attestation steps in detail, the worker’s role in them and their effect on the establishment’s classification are set out in Attesting employment contracts in Qiwa and its effect on the establishment’s Nitaqat classification.

8. What has not been established and what the text does not detail

Stating these limits plainly is more useful than filling them with inference:

• The list of fields in the unified template itself. Article 52 sets the minimum contents, and the template is created inside the Qiwa platform from an attested establishment account. As for the full list of its fields, it is not available here, and it is not sound to say that some template “is” the unified template or is “identical” to it.
• Is a signed paper contract enough to satisfy the attestation duty? Article 51 refers attestation to the statutory provisions and the regulation, and the Ministry manages attestation through Qiwa. As for characterising a paper contract that was not entered into Qiwa, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.
• The amount of the fine for failing to attest or for a missing mandatory content. The schedule of violations and penalties is outside the scope of this guide, and it is not sound to state a figure.
• The minimum wage. Article 89 permits the Council of Ministers to set it, and the law itself does not fix a figure. The figures in circulation relate to thresholds for reckoning Saudisation, not to a statutory minimum wage.

9. What your system should record

• The copy of the contract and its type, and which of the nine contents it was completed with.
• The attestation status in Qiwa and its date, independently of the date of the paper signature.
• The adopted calendar in the contract, Hijri or Gregorian, because it governs every period that follows it.
• The language of the contract, and whether a translation exists, with the stipulation that the Arabic is the authoritative text.
• The additional clauses agreed above the minimum.
• The approved work-organisation regulation and the place it is posted, because penalties are derived from it.

10. A contract checklist

• Is the contract written in two copies, with each party holding their own copy?
• Does it include the nine contents, among them the worker’s address of residence and the basic rights and obligations of each party?
• Is the text in Arabic, and if a translation exists, was it stipulated that the Arabic is the authoritative text?
• If the contract runs on Gregorian dates, was that stipulated expressly?
• Is there anything among the additional clauses that contravenes the law? Article 8 voids it even if it has been signed.
• Was the contract attested in the Qiwa platform, and not merely signed on paper?
• Is the work-organisation regulation prepared and posted in a visible place?

11. Why this turns into a problem

Contract errors do not surface at signing but years later, when a question is asked about a missing clause, or about a calendar that was not stipulated, or about an attestation that was never done. By then every period reckoned in the relationship will have been built on an unsettled basis.

Among the forms this takes: a contract complete on paper and not attested in Qiwa, and a template prepared before the 2025 amendments that therefore lacks the ninth item.

This is where it pays to have an employee’s facts in a single file. That is what Qoyod HR provides: a single employee file holding the contract, the documents and their expiry dates with an alert before them, an attendance record for each employee, and their leave, salary and end-of-service entitlements. End-of-service, overtime and leave-balance calculations are built into the system. It is a standalone HR system with its own subscription, and the link with Qoyod accounting is available now.

For more guides and templates browse the HR Resource Centre.

Frequently asked questions

Must an employment contract be in writing?

Article 51 provides that the contract be drawn up in two copies, one delivered to each party, and that it must be attested. That said, the contract is deemed to exist even if it is not written, and in that case the worker alone may prove it and the rights arising from it by all means of proof, and either party may demand that it be put in writing at any time.

What are the mandatory contents of an employment contract?

Article 52 specifies nine items as a minimum: the employer’s name and place, the worker’s name and nationality, what is needed to prove their identity, their address of residence, the agreed wage including benefits and allowances, the type of work and its place, the date of joining, the term of the contract if it is fixed-term, and the basic rights and obligations of each party.

What did M/44 add to the employment contract?

In Article 51 the attestation duty was added, and it was not in the previous text. In Article 52 the unified template became a template for each type of contract after having been a single template, the ninth item was added, namely the basic rights and obligations of each party, and the wording of the term item changed to “the term of the contract”.

Is signing a contract template enough to satisfy the attestation duty?

A downloadable template helps in agreeing the terms and signing them, and it does not stand in place of the attestation duty in Article 51, nor does it enter the contract into the Qiwa platform through which the Ministry manages attestation. As for characterising a paper contract that was not entered into Qiwa, that is a matter to be referred to the statutory text and the competent authority.

May the contract be in English?

Article 9 imposes Arabic in employment contracts, and a foreign language may be used alongside it. If the two texts differ, the Arabic text alone is the authoritative one. Accordingly a contract in English alone does not conform to the text.

Are contract periods reckoned by the Hijri or the Gregorian calendar?

Article 10 provides that periods and dates are reckoned by the Hijri calendar unless otherwise stipulated in the employment contract or in the work-organisation regulation. A contract that runs on Gregorian dates therefore needs to stipulate that expressly.

Statutory references

This guide rests on the Saudi Labor Law: Article 8 (the voidness of a contravening condition and of release during the currency of the contract), Article 9 (the language of the contract), Article 10 (the calendar), Article 13 (the work-organisation regulation), Article 37 (contracts of non-Saudis), Article 51 (writing the contract and attesting it), Article 52 (the unified template and the mandatory contents), Article 67 (the exhaustive list of disciplinary penalties) and Article 89 (the minimum wage).

What is stated about attesting contracts in the Qiwa platform rests on the “Contract Management” service page of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, and what is stated about reckoning Saudisation percentages from attested contracts rests on Council of Ministers Decision No. 195 dated 4/4/1443 AH.

On the effect of the amendments made by Royal Decree M/44 of 1446 AH, in force since 19 February 2025: Articles 37, 51 and 52 were amended by it, and their amendment is the subject of the first and fourth sections of this guide. As for Articles 8, 9, 10, 13, 67 and 89, this guide has not established an explicit amendment status for them, so it is not sound to assert that they were or were not amended, and reference on that point goes to the updated statutory text.

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