Labor Inspection: Inspector Powers and Establishment Duties

The rules on labor inspection in the Saudi Labor Law sit in Articles 194 to 209. Royal Decree M/44 reshaped this chapter substantially: some articles were deleted, one article’s authority narrowed, and one article’s scope of addressees widened.

The first thing to note is that the entry authority narrowed. The wording you may have seen saying an inspector may enter “at any time of day or night” is the pre-amendment text: the text in force today says something different.

1. Who carries out the inspection

Article 194 provides that labor inspection is carried out by inspectors from the Ministry’s staff or from other Saudi nationals, appointed by a decision of the Minister or his delegate, who hold the powers set out in the Law.

This article’s last amendment was Royal Decree M/46; M/44 did not touch it.

2. The inspector’s six areas of competence

Article 196 provides that labor inspectors are competent to:

• Monitor the implementation of the Labor Law, its Implementing Regulation and the decisions issued under it.
• Provide employers and workers with the information and technical guidance that enables them to follow the best means of implementing the provisions.
• Inform the Ministry’s competent officials of gaps that existing provisions fail to address, and propose what is needed for that.
• Record violations of the Law, the Implementing Regulation and the decisions issued under it.
• Verify violations that other competent government bodies detect and refer to the Ministry.
• Propose the appropriate fine under the schedule of violations and penalties.

What M/44 changed in this article was a change in wording, not in structure: the third item’s addressee changed from “the competent bodies” to “the Ministry’s competent officials,” and the fifth item’s verb changed from “record” to “detect.”

Items four and six already existed before M/44. The inspector’s link to the schedule of violations and penalties is not something the 2025 amendment introduced, and should not be presented as if it were.

3. Entry authority: what narrowed

Article 198 gives labor inspectors the right to enter any establishment subject to the Labor Law, at any time during the establishment’s working hours, without prior notice.

This article was amended by Royal Decree M/44. Before the amendment, the text provided for entry “at any time of day or night.” The authority itself is unchanged; what narrowed is its time frame, from day and night to the establishment’s working hours.

Any page that still says “day or night” is carrying a rule that was superseded on 19 February 2025.

4. What may be examined

The second paragraph of Article 198 gives the inspector the right to carry out any examination or investigation needed to verify sound implementation, and in particular to:

• Question the employer, the employer’s representative or the workers, individually or in the presence of witnesses, about anything related to implementing the provisions.
• Review all registers, records and other documents that the Law and the decisions issued under it require to be kept, and obtain copies and extracts of them.
• Take a sample or samples of materials used or handled in industrial or other processes subject to inspection, where there is reason to believe they may harm workers’ health or safety, for analysis in government laboratories, notifying the employer or the employer’s representative of this.

The article refers the question of exactly which records must be kept to the Law and the decisions issued under it; it does not list them within the article itself.

5. Notice of attendance, and its exception

Article 200 requires whoever carries out the inspection to notify the employer or the employer’s representative of their attendance, unless they consider that the inspection’s purpose requires otherwise.

The exception is part of the article, not a departure from it: inspection without notice of attendance rests on the text itself, where the inspection’s purpose requires it.

6. Instructions for modification, and immediate action

Article 201 gives the inspector the power to instruct employers to make modifications to work rules on their machinery and equipment, within a period the inspector sets, so as to ensure that provisions on workers’ health and safety are observed.

Where there is a danger threatening workers’ health or safety, the inspector may require immediate implementation of whatever measures are deemed necessary.

7. Confidentiality of complaints

Article 202 requires the inspector to keep complaints strictly confidential, and not to let the employer or anyone acting on the employer’s behalf know that such complaints exist.

8. Who takes part in an inspection

Article 204 provides that physicians, engineers, chemists and occupational health and safety specialists take part in inspection whenever needed, and that the labor office director and the inspectors may, where appropriate, request assistance from the competent executive bodies.

9. The establishment’s duties during inspection, and who they fall on

Article 199 requires employers, their agents and the persons in charge at the place of work to:

• Provide inspectors and officials assigned to labor inspection with the facilities needed to carry out their duty.
• Provide them with the data they request relating to the nature of their work.
• Comply with requests to appear before them.
• Send a representative if asked to do so.

This article was amended by Royal Decree M/44, and the amendment widened rather than narrowed it: the duty used to fall on “employers and their agents,” and now falls on them and on “the persons in charge at the place of work.” Today, the duty reaches the site manager personally, not only the owner and the formal agent.

10. Articles that were deleted, and can no longer be relied on

Royal Decree M/44 deleted from this chapter articles that used to govern the inspector’s qualifications, papers, procedures and reports. They are mentioned here to show that they no longer stand, not to restate them as current rules:

• Article 195: used to require the inspector to be entirely impartial, to have no direct or indirect connection with the establishments inspected, and to pass a professional examination after a training period of no less than 90 days. These requirements are no longer in the Law.
• Article 197: used to require the inspector, before starting work, to sign a pledge to perform the work honestly and not disclose any industrial invention or other secret encountered, and to carry a card from the Ministry proving their capacity. An employer can no longer rely on this article to ask for that card.
• Article 203: used to require the inspector, on recording a violation, to draft a violation report and refer it to the Minister for a decision.
• Articles 205 and 206: used to govern periodic reports on inspection: monthly and annual at the labor office, and a comprehensive annual report at the Kingdom level.
• Article 207: used to govern the forms for violation reports, inspection registers, warnings and notices.
• Article 208: used to govern training courses for inspectors.

Article 209, in its text in force, provides that the Minister issues the regulation that governs and organizes inspection work. Before the amendment, this regulation was issued by the Council of Ministers.

11. Where the deleted procedures went

Deleting Article 203 removed the procedure of drafting and referring a violation report from the body of the Law. Article 209 places the organization of inspection work in a regulation issued by the Minister.

That regulation was not read for this guide, so it does not state a replacement procedure. What has taken the place of the deleted procedures is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

12. What the text does not address

• The list of documents the inspector reviews. Article 198 gives the power to review “all registers, records and other documents” that the Law and the decisions require to be kept, without listing them. Listing them is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• Inspection procedures and their organization after Article 203 was deleted. These sit in the regulation the Minister issues under Article 209. Their detail is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• The period allowed to remedy a violation. Article 231 refers this to the regulation, and this guide did not establish the number of days. Its length is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• Fine amounts in the schedule of violations and penalties. The schedule is a ministerial decision amended on its own, and no figure from it is carried in this guide. The amount in force is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.
• The route for objecting to a fine, and how it is arranged, is a matter for the regulatory text and the competent authority.

13. What your system should record

• The registers and records the Law and its decisions require you to keep, stored where copies and extracts can be produced, since Article 198 gives the inspector the right to obtain them.
• The person in charge at each place of work, by name, since the Article 199 duty now reaches that person after the M/44 amendment.
• The date of every inspection visit and what data was requested, since this is a fact worth adding to the record.
• Instructions issued under Article 201 and the deadlines set in them, since it is the inspector who sets the deadline.
• The status of employment contracts and their documentation, since these are among the documents the Law requires to be kept.
• Attendance, leave and payroll records, since these are the documents from which implementation is read.

14. Checklist

• Does any document you use still say the inspector enters “day or night”? The text in force says “at any time during the establishment’s working hours.”
• Do your procedures require an inspector to show a card, citing Article 197? That article was deleted.
• Do your procedures expect a violation report under Article 203? That article was deleted.
• Does your site manager know that the Article 199 duty falls on them personally, not only on the owner and the formal agent?
• Are your registers and records kept somewhere they can be reviewed and copied at the time of a visit?
• Do you know the inspector may attend without notice where the inspection’s purpose requires it, under Article 200?
• Does your training material present the fine proposal power as something the 2025 amendment introduced? Items four and six of Article 196 predate it.

15. Why this turns into a problem

This chapter combines two features that produce errors together: articles deleted from the body of the Law that were never struck from the version still being circulated, and an article amended in a narrower direction while being passed around in its older, wider wording.

The first means an establishment can build its inspection-reception procedure on articles that no longer exist: asking for a card under a deleted article, or expecting a violation report under a deleted article. The second means the rule being passed along is wider than the text in force.

What stays constant either way is that inspection reads what is written down: registers, records and documents the Law requires to be kept, with copies and extracts of them. The state of these records is the state of the establishment before the inspector.

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 records and documentation that underpin an employment contract, see writing and documenting an employment contract and the work-organization regulation and what the Law refers to it. Since inspectors also check what happens when a contract ends, see dismissal without gratuity and leaving work without notice and the notice period and ending an employment contract.

Two of the records inspectors most often check are wage files and social-insurance contributions. See the Wage Protection System and GOSI contributions. For the end-of-service dues an inspector may ask to see evidenced in your records, use the end-of-service calculator.

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

Frequently asked questions

When may a labor inspector enter an establishment?

Article 198, in its text in force, gives the right to enter any establishment subject to the Labor Law at any time during the establishment’s working hours, without prior notice. Before the M/44 amendment, the text provided for entry at any time of day or night.

What may a labor inspector review?

Article 198 gives the inspector the right to question the employer, the employer’s representative or the workers, individually or in the presence of witnesses, and to review all registers, records and other documents that the Law and the decisions issued under it require to be kept, and to obtain copies and extracts of them, and to take samples of materials used, notifying the employer or the employer’s representative.

Who does the establishment’s duty during inspection fall on?

Article 199 places these duties on employers, their agents and the persons in charge at the place of work. Before the M/44 amendment, the duty ran to employers and their agents; it now extends to reach the site manager.

Must the inspector notify the establishment of their attendance?

Article 200 requires whoever carries out the inspection to notify the employer or the employer’s representative of their attendance, unless they consider that the inspection’s purpose requires otherwise. The exception is stated in the same article.

Is the inspector still required to carry a card proving their capacity?

Article 197, which used to require this along with a pledge of confidentiality, was deleted by Royal Decree M/44. An employer can no longer rely on it to ask for that card.

Is linking the inspector to the schedule of violations and penalties part of the 2025 amendments?

No. The fourth item of Article 196, on recording violations, and the sixth item, on proposing a fine under the schedule of violations and penalties, already existed before M/44. What the amendment changed in this article was the wording of the third and fifth items.

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 194 (who carries out inspection), Article 196 (areas of competence), Article 198 (entry and examination), Article 199 (the establishment’s duties), Article 200 (notice of attendance), Article 201 (instructions and immediate action), Article 202 (confidentiality of complaints), Article 204 (participants in inspection) and Article 209 (the regulation). It refers to Article 231 for the regulation’s referral of the remedy period.

On the amendments made by Royal Decree M/44 of 1446H, in force since 19 February 2025, per the updated text and the comparative amendments table issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development: Article 196 was amended in the wording of two items, Article 198 was amended so the time frame for entry narrowed, Article 199 was amended so the persons it addresses widened, and Article 209 was amended so the issuing authority for the regulation changed. Articles 195, 197, 203, 205, 206, 207 and 208 were deleted. Article 194’s last amendment was Royal Decree M/46.

The deleted articles are mentioned in this guide as provisions that are no longer in force, not as rules still applied. This guide does not carry any fine amount, because the schedule of violations and penalties is a separate ministerial decision amended on its own, and no figure from it can be read without the decision’s number, date and establishment-size bracket.

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.