Article 6 of the Saudi Military Retirement Law

المادة 6 من نظام التقاعد العسكري

The article excludes from service for retirement purposes absence without leave, unpaid leave other than sick and study leave, periods of deprivation of salary, and fractions of a month.

Official text (Arabic)

This article has not been amended since the law was issued.

لا تحتسب لأغراض التقاعد المدد الآتية:

أ ) مدة الغياب دون إجازة.

ب ) مدة الإجازة بدون راتب ما عدا الإجازات المرضية والإجازات الدراسية.

جـ ) مدة الحرمان من الراتب.

د ) كسور الشهر في مدة الخدمة.

This is the official Arabic wording, the only legally binding version. We do not translate the law itself; the explanation below is ours. Official source: Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers

Article 6 explained in plain English

This article identifies the periods that are not counted for retirement purposes, which are four:

Absence without leave.
Unpaid leave, except sick leave and study leave, which are excluded from the exclusion.
Periods of deprivation of salary.
Fractions of a month in the service period, that is, days that do not make up a full month.

The importance of this article is that the service period is the basis for entitlement to the pension and its calculation. Article 7 ties entitlement to a pension to reaching certain periods of actual service, such as eighteen years of actual service provided for in paragraph (a) of Article 4, or twenty years of military and civil service provided that the military part is not less than eight years. Any period this article excludes may therefore affect reaching these periods.

Note that the exception in paragraph (b) is limited to sick and study leave, which are counted even if unpaid, whereas other unpaid leave is not counted.

This article follows Article 5, which sets the additional service periods added for the military person, such as war, captivity and flying. The two articles together draw the line between what is added to and what is excluded from the service period. Anyone who has periods of absence or leave and wants to assess their effect on his retirement may refer to the competent body or consult a lawyer specializing in administrative cases.

Practical example

Soldier Majed served twenty years, of which six months were unpaid leave for personal circumstances and one year was unpaid study leave. Under this article, the six months are not counted for retirement purposes, whereas the year of study leave is counted because it is excepted.

Translated from our Arabic explanation with machine assistance. For guidance only; it does not replace advice from a lawyer on your situation.

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