In force Last amended 19/10/1441 AH
Saudi Civil Service Law
نظام الخدمة المدنية
The Civil Service Law of Saudi Arabia. This page presents the official Arabic text of each article with plain-English explanations for residents and businesses.
- Articles
- 44
- In force
- 43
- Amended
- 22
- Issued
- 10/7/1397 AH
Issued by: مرسوم ملكي رقم م/49 بتاريخ 10 / 7 / 1397 · قرار مجلس الوزراء رقم 951 بتاريخ 27 / 6 / 1397
Each article shows the official Arabic text, which is the only legally binding version, followed by our plain-English explanation.
Browse Civil Service Law by topic
Filling a Public Position13 articlesDuties of the Public Employee5 articlesEmployee Salaries and Increments6 articlesAllowances and Rewards7 articlesEmployee Leave and Secondment2 articlesTraining, Scholarships and Performance Evaluation4 articlesEnd of an Employee's Service1 articleGeneral Provisions of the Civil Service8 articles
Articles of the Saudi Civil Service Law
الباب الأول: الوظائفArticles 1–3
- Article 1The article makes merit the basis on which employees are selected to fill public posts.
- Article 2The article charges the Ministry of Civil Service with classifying posts, including contract-line posts, and refers the classification method and filling requirements to rules set by the Regulations.
- Article 3توصف مختلف الفئات بحيث تتضمن أوصاف كل فئة ما يلي: أ - الاسم الذي يدل عليها. ب - مرتبتها حسب سلم الرواتب الملحق بهذا النظام. ج - وصفًا…Repealed
الباب الثاني: الموظفونArticles 4–30
- Article 4The article sets the general conditions for appointment to government posts, such as nationality, age, fitness, conduct, qualification, no criminal record and no disciplinary dismissal, with specific exceptions.
- Article 5The article provides that posts in the Royal Courts are filled by royal order.
- Article 6The article identifies who issues the decision to fill posts according to their grade, and allows employees in grades 14 and 15 to be transferred within the body by the Minister's decision after the Prime Minister's approval.Amended
- Article 7The article requires the Ministry of Civil Service to announce posts of the tenth grade and below and their equivalents and to subject applicants to an evaluation with set standards, and allows a body to announce posts after the two ministers agree.Amended
- Article 8The article provides that the appointment decision of an employee who does not start his duties within 15 days of notification, without a legitimate excuse, is canceled and treated as if never made.
- Article 9The article provides that an employee appointed for the first time is on probation for one year.
- Article 10The article provides that promoting and transferring employees to vacant posts follow the classification rules, and that a promotion does not take effect before the date of its decision.
- Article 11The article sets basic duties of the employee: refraining from anything that compromises the dignity of the post at work and outside it, courtesy toward others, and devoting working time to his duties and carrying out orders accurately.
- Article 12The article prohibits the employee from abusing authority, exploiting influence, bribery, accepting gifts intended to entice from those with interests, and disclosing job secrets even after leaving service.
- Article 13The article prohibits the employee from engaging in trade and from establishing companies, sitting on their boards or working in them unless appointed by the government, and allows regulations to permit private-sector work outside working hours.
- Article 14The article bars the employee from combining his post with practicing another profession, and allows regulations issued by the Council of Ministers to permit liberal professions where the public interest requires it because of the need for their professions.Amended
- Article 15The article provides that every employee is responsible for what he does, and for the proper conduct of work within the limits of his jurisdiction.
- Article 15 bisThe article makes the human resources department in each government body responsible for applying the law and its regulations, requires departments to refer to it, and requires the body to refer to the Ministry on any difficulty it meets.
- Article 16The article provides that the employee is entitled to his salary from the date he starts work.
- Article 17The article provides for granting the employee the allowance by moving him to the step immediately following in the same grade under the salary scale, starting from the first day of each fiscal year.
- Article 18The article sets the step an employee is placed on when appointed, promoted or returned to service, ensuring a promoted employee's increase is not less than the allowance of his previous grade.Amended
- Article 19The article provides for paying half the net basic salary of an employee suspended from duty, held in precautionary detention or detained in private rights, and states when the other half is paid and when what was paid is not recovered.
- Article 20Article 20 bars attachment of an employee's salary except by order of the competent authority, caps it at one-third of net monthly salary (excluding alimony debt), and provides basic salary for an employee detained over a government debt.Amended
- Article 21Article 21 links salary to actual work: an employee is not entitled to salary for days and hours in which he does not perform his work, subject to other laws and regulations.
- Article 22Article 22 grants an employee on assignment a cash allowance for each day spent away from his place of work, inside or outside the Kingdom, in the categories set by the Financial Rights and Benefits Regulation.
- Article 23Article 23 empowers the competent Minister, by decision, to charge an employee with the work of a particular post or an official task, even while he continues his original duties.
- Article 24Article 24 allows an outstanding employee to be granted a cash reward by decision of the competent Minister, and the government entity to give a certificate of excellence, recognition or nomination for excellence awards, as the Regulation provides.
- Article 25Article 25 allows contracting to perform the work of some posts, as the Regulation specifies.Amended
- Article 25 bisArticle 25 bis allows contracting with consultants and experts to perform a particular service under a model contract agreed with the Ministries of Civil Service and Finance, with the Regulation setting controls, procedures and how fees are determined.Amended
- Article 26Article 26 provides a cash reward for overtime hours to an employee assigned to work outside official working hours and during official holidays, under rules set by the Regulation.
- Article 27Article 27 provides that the Regulation sets the types, amount and conditions of the allowances, rewards, compensations or benefits granted to an employee.
- Article 28Article 28 provides that the Regulation sets the types, terms and conditions of the leaves and periods of absence that an employee is entitled to or is permitted to take.
- Article 29Article 29 allows an employee's services to be seconded, with his consent, to work for an entity other than his employer, and allows a government entity to borrow the services of someone not covered by the Law, under rules set by the Regulation.Amended
- Article 30Article 30 lists the cases in which an employee's service ends, including resignation, retirement, job abolition, health incapacity, dismissal, unexcused absence, loss of nationality, death and three consecutive unsatisfactory performance ratings.
الباب الثالث: أحكام عامة وانتقاليةArticles 31–40
- Article 31Article 31 allows the Minister to delegate some of his powers under the Civil Service Law to others, without specifying to whom or which powers.
- Article 32Article 32 gives the head of an independent agency, with respect to his agency's employees, the powers the Minister has with respect to ministry employees.
- Article 33Article 33 prohibits appointing an employee to more than one post.
- Article 34Article 34 makes training part of an employee's regular work duties, inside or outside official hours, and requires all ministries and government agencies to enable their employees to receive it in their field of specialization.
- Article 35Article 35 makes the scholarship of employees for study abroad and their dispatch for study within the Kingdom subject to the requirements of the public interest of the work, with the rules set by the Regulation.Amended
- Article 36Article 36 requires the Ministry of Civil Service to issue a regulation for measuring employee performance, covering the bases for measurement, the levels for periodic increments and promotion, and grievance procedures against the annual evaluation.
- Article 36 bisArticle 36 bis tasks the human resources department in each government entity with preparing job plans (workforce, development and training, leadership development, talent management and succession), approved by the competent Minister in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Service.
- Article 37Article 37 allows particular posts to be exempted from some provisions of the Civil Service Law, as the Regulation provides and in agreement with the Minister of Finance.Amended M/139
- Article 37 bisArticle 37 bis applies the Civil Service Law to civil employees who hold permanent posts in the state's general budget, excluding employees of entities governed by special laws or regulations, within the limits those provide.Amended
- Article 38Article 38 provides that the Civil Service Law replaces the Employees Law (Royal Decree No. M/5 dated 1/2/1391 AH) for employees originally subject to it and for those whose own systems the Employees Law supplemented, within the limits those systems provide.
- Article 39Article 39 provides that the Council of Ministers issues the regulations of the Civil Service Law and may authorize the Minister of Civil Service to issue some of them.
- Article 40Article 40 gives the Council of Ministers the right to interpret the Civil Service Law.
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