Article 18 of the Saudi Employee Discipline Law

This article deals with an employee who is held in pretrial detention on suspicion of committing a crime, and sets two obligations:

1- The arresting authority's duty to notify: The arresting authority must notify the government body where the detained employee works immediately upon detaining him.

2- The employing body's duty to take him back: The government body where the employee works must allow him to work on his release. Release therefore means, in principle, his return to carrying out his work.

The exception: If the interest of the work, the investigation or the trial requires suspending him from duty under the Law, he is not allowed to work. Here the article is linked to Article 17, which allows the government body, the Authority or the competent court, each according to its jurisdiction, to issue a suspension decision for a period or periods not exceeding two years, and provides that if a detained employee is dismissed because of the violation, his service is treated as ended from the date of his suspension or pretrial detention, whichever is earlier.

The article does not specify the means of notification. It is followed by Article 19, which suspends administrative proceedings on the violation if the employee is referred to criminal investigation or trial over it, until those proceedings end.

Anyone who was released and not allowed to work is advised to consult a lawyer specializing in administrative cases.