Saudi Sick Leave and Maternity Leave Pay: What the Law Says

Articles 117 and 151 of the Saudi Labor Law cover sick leave and maternity leave. Article 151 changed in 2025, so older articles online may show the old maternity rules.

Sick leave pay (Article 117)

A worker with a proven illness gets paid sick leave in a single year as follows:

Sick days in the year	Pay
First 30 days	Full wage
Next 60 days	Three quarters of the wage
Following 30 days	No pay

That is up to 120 days, in one stretch or in separate periods. The “year” starts on the date of your first sick leave, not on 1 January or your work anniversary.

Example. Wage SAR 9,000, so the daily wage is 9,000 ÷ 30 = SAR 300 (a month counts as 30 days under Article 2).

• 50 sick days: 30 × 300 = 9,000, plus 20 × 75% × 300 = 4,500. You are paid SAR 13,500, and SAR 1,500 of wage is not paid.
• 100 sick days: 9,000 + 60 × 225 = 22,500 for the paid days, and the last 10 days are unpaid. You are paid SAR 22,500.

The article does not say what pay applies after 120 days. Our calculator shows those days separately, with no pay.

Try your own numbers in the sick leave calculator.

Protection from dismissal (Article 82)

An employer may not end your contract because of illness before you have had the full sick leave period the law provides. You can also ask to combine your sick leave with your annual leave.

Maternity leave (Article 151, amended 2025)

• A working woman gets 12 weeks of maternity leave on full pay. Before the amendment it was 10 weeks.
• Six weeks after the birth are mandatory. She can spread the other six weeks as she chooses, starting up to four weeks before the expected date. A medical certificate from a health authority sets the expected date.
• If the birth is late and fewer than six weeks remain of the leave, the remainder counts as unpaid leave.
• In all cases she may extend the leave with one month of unpaid leave.
• If the child is sick or has special needs and needs continuous accompaniment, she gets a fully paid month after the maternity leave ends, and may extend it with another unpaid month.

Paternity and other family leave (Article 113, amended 2025)

An employee (including a father) has 3 days of paid leave on the birth of a child, to be taken within 7 days of the birth. Our guide to annual and other leave lists the other family leave days.

A mother who leaves the job (Article 87)

A woman who ends her contract within three months of giving birth (or within six months of marriage) gets the full end of service award, even though she resigned. See the award explained.

Source: Saudi Labor Law, Royal Decree No. M/51, English text published by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, Articles 2, 82, 87, 113, 117 and 151, and the Ministry’s guideline “Amendments to Labor Law Articles” (6 August 2024) for the amended Articles 113 and 151. Articles 82, 87 and 117 are not in the Ministry’s list of changed articles. Checked on 2 October 2026. The English text is a translation; the Arabic text governs.