Article 19 of the Saudi Employee Discipline Law

This article regulates the case where the administrative track and the criminal track meet over one violation.

When does it apply? When:

• Administrative proceedings have been started over a violation attributed to the employee.
• Then a decision is made to refer the employee to criminal investigation or trial over that violation or violations connected with it.

The rule: The administrative proceedings are suspended on the violation itself and on the violations connected with it, until the investigation or trial proceedings end.

This means the disciplinary track does not run in parallel with the criminal track over the same act, but waits for it to end. The article does not state what happens to the administrative proceedings after the investigation or trial ends.

This article comes after Article 18, which requires the arresting authority to notify the employing body of an employee held in pretrial detention immediately, and requires his body to allow him to work on release unless the interest requires suspending him. It is followed by Article 20, which sets the cases in which a violation or claim lapses, including the passing of two years from the date of discovering the violation without any investigation or trial step being taken or from the date of the last step.

Anyone facing both an administrative and a criminal track at the same time is advised to consult a lawyer specializing in administrative cases.