How the Saudi end-of-service award is worked out
The award is the daily wage times the days of wage owed. Article 84 pays half a month's wage for each of the first five years of service and a month's wage for each year after, and calls the last wage the base. It sets no cap and no minimum length of service, and pays part years in proportion to the time worked. The daily wage here is the monthly wage divided by 30; the law states no divisor, so this is the usual convention and the page says so.
Service runs from the first day up to the last day, and the last day is not counted. Whole months are counted from the anniversary of the first day, and the days left over after the last whole month count as that many 365ths of a year. The law gives no divisor, so this is a stated reading, not a quoted rule: an employer who uses another divisor can arrive at a figure a little different. The wage is the last wage, not the basic wage alone; the rules file takes it as the basic wage plus the allowances the contract treats as wage, less any pay that rises and falls (Article 86), which is our reading.
If the worker resigns
Article 85 pays a worker who resigns only a share of the award, by length of service: nothing under two years, one third from two years up to and including five, two thirds for more than five and under ten, and the full award from ten years. The employer ending the contract is not reduced. The table shows each band on a last wage of SAR 5,000.00.
| Service at resignation | Example service | Share of the award | Award |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 2 years | 1 year, 6 months | nothing | SAR 0.00 |
| 2 years up to and including 5 years | 3 years | one third | SAR 2,500.00 |
| More than 5 years and under 10 years | 8 years, 6 months | two thirds | SAR 20,000.00 |
| 10 years or more | 12 years | all | SAR 47,500.00 |
Article 87 makes an exception: the full award is due when the worker leaves because of force majeure, and when a woman ends her contract within six months of her marriage or three months of giving birth. On a last wage of SAR 5,000.00, 1 year of service ended by a woman within six months of her marriage gives SAR 2,500.00; the same service ended by resignation, without the marriage, gives SAR 0.00.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Saudi award worked out on my basic wage or my total pay?
On the last wage, which is more than the basic wage alone. Article 84 takes the last wage as the base, and our reading is that it is the basic wage plus the allowances your contract treats as wage, less pay that rises and falls, such as commissions (Article 86). With a basic wage of SAR 4,000.00 and an allowance of SAR 1,000.00 that your contract counts as wage, the last wage is SAR 5,000.00 and, from 1 March 2018 to 1 September 2026, the award is SAR 30,000.00; entering the basic wage alone would show SAR 24,000.00. Your contract says which allowances count.
Does resigning reduce my end-of-service award?
Yes, by length of service (Article 85). Under two years you get nothing, from two to five years one third, over five and under ten years two thirds, and from ten years the full award. On a last wage of SAR 5,000.00 and 8 years, 6 months of service, resigning gives SAR 20,000.00, which is two thirds of the SAR 30,000.00 the employer ending the contract would give.
Do I get an award if I worked less than two years?
It depends on how the job ended. Article 84 sets no minimum, so when the employer ends the contract, 6 months of service on a last wage of SAR 5,000.00 gives SAR 1,250.00. A worker who resigns before two years gets nothing: 1 year, 6 months of service on a last wage of SAR 5,000.00 gives SAR 0.00.
I am a woman who left after my marriage or after giving birth. What do I get?
Article 87 gives the full award, not the resignation share, if you end the contract within six months of your marriage or three months of giving birth. For 1 year of service on a last wage of SAR 5,000.00, choose the marriage or childbirth option under "How the job ended" and the page shows SAR 2,500.00; as an ordinary resignation it would show SAR 0.00. The time limits run from the date of the marriage contract or the birth.
Is there a cap on the award?
Not in the rules this page reads. The Labour Law states no limit on the end-of-service award, so the calculator applies none, whatever the length of service. Some other countries' laws, such as the UAE's, do cap it.
Do unpaid leave days count as service?
The law text this page reads does not say, so there is no box for unpaid days and the calculator counts every calendar day from the first day to the last. If your contract or the ministry's practice takes unpaid leave off the service, ask the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development how it applies to you.
I am a Saudi citizen. Does this apply to me?
Often not. The rules this page reads say the social-insurance pension (GOSI) takes the place of the end-of-service award for Saudi private-sector workers under that branch, and that the award is paid in practice to expatriate workers. See the list of who is not covered below, and ask GOSI or the ministry which applies to you.
Why is my employer's figure a few riyals different?
The law does not fix the daily-wage divisor or how a part year is counted. This calculator divides the monthly wage by 30, counts whole months exactly and the leftover days over 365, and rounds once at the end, half up, to the halala. An employer who counts a month as the actual days in it, or a year as 360 or 365.25 days, can differ by a small amount.
Is what I type sent anywhere?
No. The calculation runs in your browser. The link button copies an address that holds your numbers after the # sign, which a browser never sends to a server, and nothing is stored on this device.
The rules this calculator applies
These lines come from the rules file the calculator itself reads, so the page and the answer cannot disagree. A row marked "Law (translation)" is the official English translation of the article; a row marked "Our summary" is our own wording, not a quotation. Checked on 12 October 2026.
| Where | What it says | Kind | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article 84, 86 | The end-of-service award shall be calculated on the basis of the last wage | Law (translation) | SA-WAGE |
| Article 84 | a half-month wage for each of the first five years | Law (translation) | SA-B1 |
| Article 84 | a one-month wage for each of the following years | Law (translation) | SA-B2 |
| Article 84 | the worker shall be entitled to an end-of-service award for the portions of the year in proportion to the time spent on the job | Law (translation) | SA-PART |
| Article 84 | When the employer ends the relationship the full award is due | Our summary | SA-R1 |
| Article 85 | A resigning worker with less than two consecutive years of service is not due the award | Our summary | SA-R2a |
| Article 85 | A resigning worker is due one third of the award after two to five consecutive years of service | Our summary | SA-R2b |
| Article 85 | A resigning worker is due two thirds of the award after more than five and fewer than ten consecutive years of service | Our summary | SA-R2c |
| Article 85 | A resigning worker is due the full award after ten or more years of service | Our summary | SA-R2d |
| Article 87 | As an exception to the provisions of Article 85 of this Law, the worker shall be entitled to the full end-of-service award if he leaves the work due to a force majeure beyond his control. A female worker shall likewise be entitled to the full award if she ends her contract within six months from the date of her marriage or three months from the date of giving birth. | Law (translation) | SA-R3 |
| Article 85 | If the employment relation ends due to the worker's resignation, he shall, in this case, be entitled to one third of the award after service of not less than two consecutive years and not more than five years, to two thirds if his service is in excess of five consecutive years but less than 10 years, and to the full award if his service amounts to 10 years or more. | Law (translation) | SA-R2a to SA-R2d |
Who this calculator does not cover
It gives no figure for these cases. Use the rules that apply to you.
- Domestic workers and those considered as such (own HRSD regulation; a separate one-month-wage-after-four-years rule applies there and is outside this calculator).
- Agricultural workers other than those tending permanent machines (Article 7).
- The employer's family members, sports players and coaches (Article 7).
- Saudi private-sector workers under the GOSI social-insurance pension branch: the social-insurance pension replaces the end-of-service award for them; the Labour Law gratuity is paid in practice to expatriate workers (Article 2 and the Social Insurance Law).
Sources
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Labour Law in Arabic, with its amendments (PDF): Labor Law promulgated by Royal Decree No. M/51 of 23/8/1426H (27 September 2005) and its amendments, in force from 23 April 2006; address checked 12 October 2026. Articles 84, 85, 86 and 87. The Arabic wording of Articles 84, 85 and 87 was compared word for word on that date.
- Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Labour Law in English (PDF), and WIPO Lex, which carries the same English translation. The English wording on this page is that translation. The August 2024 amendments, in force from 19 February 2025, did not change Articles 84 and 85, according to the rules file.
The calculations on this page are done by this page's own code, which is checked against an independent implementation in the site's test suite. Where the law is silent (the daily-wage divisor, unpaid leave) the page states the reading it uses.