Article 34 of the Saudi Civil Service Law

المادة 34 من نظام الخدمة المدنية · الباب الثالث: أحكام عامة وانتقالية

Article 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.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

يعتبر تدريب الموظفين جزءا من واجبات العمل النظامية سواء كان داخل أو خارج أوقات الدوام الرسمي وعلى جميع الوزارات والمصالح الحكومية تمكين موظفيها من تلقي التدريب كل في مجال اختصاصه.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 34 explained in plain English

This article deals with training from two sides: the employee's side, and the side of the government entity where he works.

First: for the employee

Training is part of regular work duties, not an optional activity separate from the job.
It remains so whether it takes place within official working hours or outside them; the fact that training falls after working hours does not take it out of being part of work duties.

Second: for government entities

It is the duty of all ministries and government agencies to enable their employees to receive training.
The training for each employee is in his field of specialization.

The article thus makes training a mutual obligation: the entity is obliged to enable the employee to receive it, and the employee treats it as part of his work.

The article says nothing about financial compensation for training outside working hours, nor about the number of training hours or how programs are selected; these are details the text does not answer.

Related to it is Article 35, which makes the scholarship of employees for study abroad or their dispatch within the Kingdom subject to the requirements of the public interest of the work, and leaves its rules to the Regulation.

Anyone with a dispute with his entity over training may consult a lawyer specializing in administrative and civil service cases.

Practical example

Noura is an employee in the IT department of a ministry, and she is assigned to attend a training course in her field of work held in the evening after working hours. Under this article, her attendance at this training counts as part of her regular work duties even though it is outside official working hours.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

Administrative Law lawyers: ask a specialist about your case

Describe your situation briefly and we'll suggest a lawyer who specialises in this law