JEDDAH: Saudi government and private-sector employees have been alerted to their annual holiday rights under the Kingdom’s labor laws.
The current rules allow workers to take time off during official holidays such as Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha and for other eventualities such as marriage, maternity, and sickness leave.
However, the Twitter account of Saudi Labor Law (@abcd13200) on Saturday posted a statement that pointed out the need for staff to be fully aware of their entitlements in order to avoid losing days when their annual vacation leave clashed with an official holiday or other rightful work-break period.
The tweet said: “Recognize your rights. If the employee is on annual leave and his leave days overlap with Eid holiday, then the annual leave should be extended and resumed with the same duration clashed with Eid holiday dates.”
Another statement added that the same rules applied when employees were off work due to illness or for other health reasons, as long as a medical report was provided.
The alert messages gained more than 10,000 responses on the first day of posting and the same information was also published on the Human Resources and Social Development website.
Under the country’s labor laws, workers are entitled to a four-day Eid Al-Fitr holiday starting after the 29th day of Ramadan according to the Umm Al-Qura calendar, and four days off for Eid Al-Adha commencing on Arafat day.
In the event of festive days overlapping with booked annual leave, holidays can be extended by the number of clashing days.