Qatar Labor Law: Official Leaves

Employees are entitled to various leaves. These leaves are usually taken when employees need time to be away from their work especially during unexpected circumstances, without affecting their status and compensation in their work.

Considering the provisions on working hours, here are some of the things you must know when it comes to the official leaves, as provided by Qatar Labor Law Articles 78 to 85.

Learn all about official leaves!

Employees’ Official Leaves in Qatar

Annual Leave

  • Employees are entitled to the following annual leaves with full wage:
  1. Eid El-Fitr leave (3 working days)
  2. Eid Al-Adha leave (3 working days)
  3. Independence Day leave (1 working day)
  4. 3 working days to be specified by the employer
  • A worker who has completed one continuous year of service in his employer but less than five years is entitled to an annual leave with pay for at least three weeks. For the worker whose service is more than five years, he is entitled to an annual leave with pay for at least four weeks.
  • The worker is entitled to a leave for the fraction of the year in proportion to the period of his service.
  • The employer may do the following on his worker’s annual leave:
  1. Fix the date of the annual leave of his employee, in which the date should be in accordance with the work requirements;
  2. Divide the leave, provided that it has consent from the worker and that the division is not more than two periods; and
  3. Postpone the annual leave of the worker for not more than half of the annual leave to the year following the year of its entitlement, provided that the employer has written an application of postponement.
  • The worker cannot waive his entitlement to the annual leave.
  • If the contract of the worker is terminated for some reason before he could take his leave, he is entitled to payment equivalent to his wage on his leave days.

Sick Leave

  • The worker is entitled to a sick leave with pay yearly during his years of service.
  • His sick leave will not be granted unless he provides a certificate proving his sickness issued by a physician and approved by his employer .
  • If the worker’s sickness did not exceed two weeks, he should be paid with full wage. If the sick leave extends up to the fourth week, the worker would be paid half of his wage. If the leave is furtherly extended, the worker would not be compensated anymore until he resumes his work, resigns from his work, or be terminated from his service.
  • If the sick leave is extended up to twelve weeks (14th week of sick leave), the service of the worker will be terminated, provided that a report from a competent physician proves that the worker is unable to resume his work at that time.
  • If the worker resigns from work due to his sickness (with the approval of a physician) before the end of the 6 weeks to which he is entitled to a sick leave with pay, the employer should pay him the balance of his entitlement. This also applies when the worker dies before the end of the said 6 weeks due to sickness.
  • These provisions do not affect the right of the worker for any compensation for his period of service and his sick leave for 12 weeks will not be considered as interruption of his continuous service.

Leave for Muslim Workers

  • A Muslim worker is entitled to a leave without pay for not more than two weeks to fulfill his pilgrimage duty once during his period of service.
  • The employer will be the one to determine the number of the workers (depending on the work situation) who will be granted with such leave, giving priority to those who have longer periods of service.

Other Provisions

  • The worker cannot work for another employer during his leave and if he does, the employer can deprive the worker of his wage for the leave period and recover the wage that he has given to the worker once it is proven.
  • The employer cannot terminate his worker nor notify him of termination during his leave period. Also, the employer cannot notify the worker of termination if the notice period expires during his leave periods.

These are things you must know about the official leaves in Qatar. Meanwhile, have you been thinking about where to spend your leave in Qatar? Check out these articles on Qatar’s natural wonders and beaches.

DISCLAIMER: The topics presented in this article are for information-sharing purposes only. To learn more about the official leaves in Qatar and other related matters, please visit the official website of the Hukoomi Portal (Qatar e-Government).