Article 20 of the Saudi Employee Discipline Law

This article explains when a violation or claim lapses, as the case may be, so that there is no longer any accountability. There are three cases:

1. Death.
2. Total health incapacity that makes it impossible to hold the employee accountable, provided it is established by a medical report from the General Medical Authority.
3. Passage of time, which takes two forms:
   • The passing of two years from the date of discovering the violation without any investigation or trial step being taken.
   • Or the passing of two years from the date the last step was taken.

Note that in the first form the two-year period is counted from the date of discovering the violation, not from the date it was committed, and that taking any investigation or trial step makes the count start from the date of the last step.

Multiple accused: If there is more than one accused in the violation, the interruption of the period as to one of them interrupts it as to the others. An investigation step against one of them therefore affects the running of the period for all.

This article comes after Article 19, which suspends administrative proceedings if the employee is referred to criminal investigation or trial, and before Article 21, which provides for expunging disciplinary penalties after two years from the date they were issued unless another penalty is issued in the meantime.

Because calculating periods and their interruption requires care with the dates, anyone who thinks the violation attributed to him has lapsed is advised to consult a lawyer specializing in administrative cases.