Article 36 of the Saudi Civil Service Law

Performance evaluation is among the things that most affect an employee's career path, and this article is its legal basis. It requires the Ministry of Civil Service to issue a regulation for measuring employee performance, including the objectives it seeks to achieve.

The article specifies four matters that the regulation must address in particular:

1. The bases, criteria and levels of performance measurement: that is, how an employee's performance is measured and what its grades are.
2. The performance levels for which the employee is entitled to the periodic increment.
3. The performance levels required for promotion.
4. The procedures for grievance against the results of the annual performance evaluation.

What follows from the text is that the result of the performance evaluation is not a mere formality; it is legally tied to entitlement to the periodic increment and to promotion, and the employee has a route to grieve the result of his annual evaluation.

However, the article itself does not specify the levels or grades required for the increment or promotion, nor the grievance period or the body to which it is submitted; it refers all of that to the regulation.

Connected to it is Article 36 bis, which tasks the human resources department in the government entity with preparing job plans, including the talent management plan and the development and training plan.

Anyone who received an evaluation he considers unfair would do well to review the grievance procedures in the regulation and, where needed, consult a lawyer specializing in administrative and civil service cases.