Article 49 of the Saudi Labor Law

A qualification and training contract is not an employment contract in the sense of Article 50, which defines an employment contract as an agreement under which a worker works under the management or supervision of an employer for wages; the trainee is in the establishment to learn a profession or acquire a skill, not primarily to perform work for pay. Even so, the Law has not left the trainee without protection, and Article 49 extends to them a specific set of provisions of the Labor Law.

The provisions that apply to the trainee and the person undergoing qualification under this article are:

• The provisions on annual leave and official holidays.
• The maximum working hours.
• Daily rest periods and weekly rest.
• The rules of occupational safety and health.
• The provisions on work injuries and their conditions.
• Any other provisions the Minister decides will apply to this contract.

What does this mean in practice? The employer may not make the trainee work hours exceeding the maximum set in the Law for workers, nor deprive them of daily rest periods or weekly rest, and must provide them with a training environment that observes the requirements of occupational safety and health. If the trainee is injured during training, the provisions on work injuries apply to them on the same conditions set out in the Law. The trainee is also entitled to annual leave and official holidays as the Law provides in its articles on them.

The article opens the door for the Minister to add other provisions he considers appropriate, so this list can be expanded by ministerial decision, without the text specifying in advance what those provisions are.

The picture is completed by reading this article with Article 48, which regulates termination of the training contract, whether by the employer when it is established that the trainee cannot benefit from the program according to periodic evaluation reports, or by the trainee themselves, with the other party to be notified at least a week in advance, together with what relates to requiring the trainee to work a similar period after training ends or to repay its costs.

If a trainee is subjected to excess training hours or an injury and these provisions have not been applied to them, it is appropriate to consult a lawyer specialized in labor cases to assess their position.