How many days of sick leave in Saudi Arabia, and how much of your salary is paid?
Sick leave in Saudi Arabia for private-sector workers is set by Article 117 of the Labor Law: up to 120 days in one year, made up of 30 days on full pay, 60 days on three-quarters pay and 30 days without pay. The days count whether they are taken in one block or on separate occasions, and the year starts from the date of your first sick leave.
The right depends on proving the illness with an approved medical report, which in practice is issued electronically through the Ministry of Health’s Seha system and shown in the Sehhaty app. Article 82 adds that the employer may not end your contract because of illness before these periods are used up. This guide follows the Labor Law (Royal Decree No. M/51) as it stands in November 2026, after the amendments that took effect on 19 February 2025.
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Table of Contents
Sick leave in Saudi Arabia at a glance
A private-sector worker who proves illness with an approved medical report is entitled to sick leave of up to 120 days within one year counted from the first sick leave: the first 30 days on full wage, the next 60 days on 75% of the wage, and the last 30 days unpaid, whether the days are continuous or intermittent.
- Legal basis: Article 117 of the Labor Law, read with Article 82 (dismissal) and Article 118 (no work for another employer during leave).
- Total: 120 days per year (30 + 60 + 30).
- Proof: a medical report from an authorized health facility.
- Job protection: no termination because of illness before the sick-leave periods are exhausted.
- 2025 amendments: the text of Article 117 was not changed.
What Article 117 of the Saudi Labor Law says
The official English text published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD) reads: “A worker who proves their illness shall be entitled to sick leave with full pay for the first thirty days, with three-quarters of the pay for the following sixty days, and without pay for the thirty days thereafter, during one year, whether these leaves are continuous or intermittent. The term ‘one year’ means: The year that commences from the date of the first sick leave.” (HRSD, Labor Law Articles 89–118).
The idea behind article 117 of the Saudi labor law is balance. It protects the worker’s income during illness, but it does not leave the employer paying a full salary for an open-ended period. That is why the pay steps down in stages while the contract stays in force. This Article 117 Saudi Labor Law rule applies to every worker covered by the Labor Law, Saudi or expatriate, as a minimum that a contract can improve but not reduce.
Sick leave pay in Saudi Arabia: the 120-day table
This is the split as stated in the law, counted from day 1 of the first sick leave in the year:
| Stage | Number of days | Pay | Cumulative days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | 30 days | Full wage (100%) | Day 1 to day 30 |
| Stage 2 | 60 days | Three-quarters of the wage (75%) | Day 31 to day 90 |
| Stage 3 | 30 days | No pay (0%) | Day 91 to day 120 |
Continuous or intermittent days
All sick days in the same year are added together. If you take 10 days in one month and 20 days in another, you have used the whole full-pay stage of 30 days. Any further sick day in that year is paid at 75%.
When the sick-leave year starts
The year runs from the date of your first sick leave, not from the start of your contract or from 1 January. If your first sick leave starts on 10 March, the year runs to 9 March of the following year, and every sick day in between counts toward the same 120 days. Note that Article 10 of the Law counts periods by the Hijri calendar unless the contract or the work regulations provide otherwise, so check which calendar your contract uses.
How to calculate sick leave pay
Divide the monthly wage by 30 to get the daily wage (the Law defines a month as 30 days unless the contract or work regulations say otherwise), then multiply by the number of days and the percentage for each stage.
The Law defines “wage” as the actual wage, which is wider than basic salary. Whether a particular allowance, such as housing or transport, is included depends on how the employment contract and the work regulations describe it. If the employer and the worker disagree on the wage elements, the contract and the Labor Law decide, and the dispute can go to the Labor Court.
Example on a monthly wage of SAR 9,000 (SAR 300 a day) for a worker who uses all 120 days in one year:
| Stage | Days | Daily pay due | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full wage | 30 | SAR 300 | SAR 9,000 |
| Three-quarters of the wage | 60 | SAR 225 | SAR 13,500 |
| No pay | 30 | SAR 0 | SAR 0 |
| Total for 120 days | 120 | – | SAR 22,500 |
Example 1: intermittent illness
A worker earning SAR 6,000 (SAR 200 a day) takes 12 sick days in April and 25 in September of the same sick-leave year. The first 30 days are on full pay: the 12 April days plus 18 September days. The remaining 7 September days fall in stage 2 and are paid at SAR 150 a day instead of SAR 200, so SAR 1,050 for those days.
Example 2: surgery and a long recovery
A worker earning SAR 7,500 (SAR 250 a day) needs 100 continuous days. She receives 30 days on full pay (SAR 7,500), 60 days at 75% (SAR 11,250) and 10 days without pay. She may ask to attach her annual leave balance to the sick leave so that more of those days are paid (see Article 82 below).
Example 3: a new sick-leave year
A worker’s first sick leave started on 1 June. If he falls ill again on 15 June of the next year, a new year has begun, and he again has 30 days on full pay.
How to get a sick leave certificate (Seha and Sehhaty)
The right to sick leave turns on the words “who proves their illness”. Telling your manager that you are unwell is not enough; you need a medical report that states the leave period. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH) electronic sick leave service, authorized health facilities issue sick leaves electronically through the Seha platform, and the patient receives the report by SMS.
- See a doctor at an authorized facility. Public and private health facilities must be authorized by MOH to issue sick leaves.
- Get the leave issued electronically. The doctor issues it through Seha; you receive an SMS with the report.
- Open it in Sehhaty. In the Sehhaty app, Medical Reports section, you can view, share or print the sick leave.
- Send it to your employer through the channel your company’s work regulations set (HR system, email or the HR officer), and keep a copy.
- Check the dates. Make sure the start and end dates match your actual absence, because they decide which pay stage each day falls in.
Common reasons a sick leave is not accepted, from the cases we review:
- The report comes from a facility that is not authorized to issue sick leaves, or it cannot be verified electronically.
- The document is a follow-up appointment or a visit note, not a sick leave with a stated period.
- The leave is sent late or not through the channel set in the work regulations, and the absence is first recorded as unexcused.
- The dates do not match the days of absence.
- The worker worked for another employer during the leave, which Article 118 forbids.
Can you be dismissed during sick leave? (Article 82)
Article 82 provides that “the employer may not terminate a worker’s service due to illness before the worker has exhausted the specified periods of sick leave stipulated in this Law” (HRSD, Labor Law Articles 50–88). In other words, illness cannot be used as the reason to end the contract while any of the 120 days remain.
The protection is about dismissal because of illness. A termination for a different, lawful reason follows the general rules of the Law. If a worker is dismissed because of illness before the periods are used up, the worker can claim compensation and all end-of-service entitlements before the Labor Court.
Sick leave during annual leave
Two rules apply. First, under Article 82 the worker may ask to combine annual leave with sick leave, which is useful once the full-pay days are used up. Second, HRSD’s guidance on sick leave states that if sick leave days overlap with annual leave, the annual leave is put on hold until the sick leave ends and then resumes. The same guidance says weekly rest days that fall within a sick leave are not compensated.
For reference, Article 109 gives at least 21 days of paid annual leave a year, rising to at least 30 days after five consecutive years with the same employer.
Pregnancy-related sick leave and maternity leave
Illness caused by pregnancy or childbirth has extra protection. Under Article 155, the employer may not dismiss a female worker, or give her notice of dismissal, during pregnancy or maternity leave, including the period of illness arising from either, if the illness is proven by an accredited medical certificate and her absence does not exceed 180 days in a year, continuous or intermittent (HRSD, Labor Law Articles 149–160).
Maternity leave is a separate entitlement under amended Article 151: 12 weeks on full pay, of which the 6 weeks after delivery are mandatory, with the option to extend by one month without pay. If the child is born sick or with special needs requiring constant care, she gets one more month on full pay, extendable by a month without pay. Article 155 deals with protection from dismissal; it does not set its own pay scale for pregnancy-related sick days.
Sick leave during probation
Amended Article 53 caps probation at 180 days and leaves it to the Implementing Regulations to list the leave that does not count toward it. HRSD’s Q&A guide on the 2025 amendments lists sick leave among them, together with the Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha holidays, National Day and Founding Day. So sick days during probation extend the probation period by the same number of days.
Cases that are not Article 117 sick leave
- Work injuries: a worker temporarily unable to work because of a work injury follows separate rules. HRSD states the worker receives financial aid equal to the full wage for 60 days, then 75% of the wage for the rest of the recovery period.
- Domestic workers: Article 7 excludes domestic workers from the Labor Law; their leave follows their own regulation.
- Government employees: civil-service staff follow the civil-service leave rules, not Article 117.
- Working elsewhere during leave: under Article 118, a worker who works for another employer during leave may lose the wage for that period, or have to repay it.
What happens after 120 days?
Once the periods in Article 117 are used up, no further pay is due for absence through illness in that year, and the Article 82 protection no longer applies. The contract may then be ended under the rules of the Law, but the worker keeps statutory rights such as the end-of-service award and payment for unused annual leave.
A compliant sick leave policy in Saudi Arabia for employers
A sick leave policy in Saudi Arabia can be more generous than the Law, but never less. A short policy that avoids most disputes covers:
- Which reports are accepted (electronic sick leaves from authorized facilities) and how they are verified.
- How and when the worker sends the leave, and who receives it.
- Tracking of the sick-leave year from each worker’s first sick leave, not by calendar year.
- Payroll rules for the 75% stage and the wage elements included, matching the contract.
- The annual-leave overlap rule and the right to combine annual leave with sick leave.
- A rule that no termination for illness is processed before the 120 days are exhausted.
An employment contract lawyer can check that your contract and work regulations match the sick leave Saudi labor law rules.
How to claim unpaid sick pay or unfair dismissal
If sick pay was deducted against Article 117, or you were dismissed because of illness before the periods ran out, the claim follows these steps:
- File for friendly settlement with HRSD. The Friendly Settlement for Labor Disputes service is electronic and free of charge. A labor office lawyer can represent you at this stage.
- Negotiation and sessions. HRSD gives a week for direct negotiation, then holds settlement sessions and mediation.
- Referral to the Labor Court. If no settlement is reached, the case is referred to the Labor Court within 21 working days from the date of the first claim, per HRSD.
- Watch the deadline. Under Article 234, a labor claim is not heard after 12 months from the end of the employment relationship, unless the court accepts an excuse or the employer acknowledges the right.
A clear statement of claim with the medical reports, payslips and the employer’s decision attached makes the case easier to follow.
Frequently Asked Questions about sick leave in Saudi Arabia
In short, sick leave in Saudi Arabia gives you up to 120 days a year on a 30/60/30 pay split, as long as each leave is proven by an approved medical report and counted from your first sick leave. Keep your Sehhaty reports and payslips, and check each deduction against the table above.
If your pay was cut or your contract was ended during illness, a lawyer can review the documents and the deadlines with you, in person in Jeddah or through online legal consultations.
To get a legal consultation from our team, contact us via the WhatsApp button at the bottom of the screen.
Read also:
- Saudi Labor Law guide
- Annual leave under the Saudi Labor Law
- Maternity leave under the Saudi Labor Law
Sources: (checked on 4 November 2026)
- Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers: Labor Law (Royal Decree No. M/51)
- HRSD, Labor Law English text: Articles 1–21 (definitions, Articles 2, 7 and 10), Articles 50–88 (Articles 53 and 82), Articles 89–118 (Articles 109, 117 and 118), Articles 149–160 (Articles 151 and 155)
- HRSD Knowledge Centre: Sick Leave
- HRSD: Q&A guide on the Labor Law amendments (2025, Arabic)
- HRSD: Friendly Settlement for Labor Disputes
- Ministry of Health: Electronic sick leaves and Sehhaty medical reports
A legal advisor holding a Bachelor’s degree in Law from the prestigious Cairo University. He possesses extensive experience spanning over 25 years in criminal, civil, and family law, during which he has achieved notable accomplishments that have solidified his reputation as a valuable asset to any legal team
