Make and Document HR Decisions in Line with Saudi Labor Law

A problem can begin with a contract that does not match the job offer, leave recorded under the wrong category, disciplinary action issued before the investigation is completed, or overtime estimated instead of calculated. By the time a case reaches Friendly Settlement or the labor court, records and supporting documents become a central part of what can be demonstrated.

Saudi Labor Law also changes. Amendments that took effect on 19 February 2025 amended 38 articles, repealed 7, and added 2 new ones. The course therefore focuses on checking the official source and confirming what is currently in force before making an HR decision, rather than relying on memory or circulated interpretations.

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Identify the source behind a legal position and distinguish between the Labor Law, its Implementing Regulations, and interpretations circulated informally within HR groups.
• Review an employment contract critically, including its parties, essential elements, and how fixed-term and indefinite-term contracts differ when the employment relationship ends.
• Complete the documentation cycle from the job offer to an employment contract documented through official platforms, while understanding the risks created by incomplete documentation.
• Handle wages, working hours, rest periods, and overtime as calculable cases rather than managerial estimates.
• Classify leave correctly when the request is submitted, because incorrect classification can later affect leave balances and the final settlement.
• Distinguish clearly between employer and employee rights and obligations and translate them into practices that can be applied through internal work regulations.
• Manage the end of employment as a documented process covering termination, resignation, and notice, while understanding the Friendly Settlement route before a dispute reaches the labor court.
• Identify risk within current HR practices and build an initial compliance checklist around actual processes and records.
• Verify legal updates before applying or communicating them, so internal policies and procedures are not built on provisions that are no longer in force.

• HR practitioners: You regularly answer employee questions, but some answers may rely more on established workplace practice than on a verified legal source.
• Personnel and employee relations professionals: You manage files that may appear organized until a dispute reveals that a critical document or record is missing.
• Payroll, compensation, and benefits professionals: You handle wage or working-hours errors that may not become visible immediately but can affect later calculations and the final settlement.
• Recruitment and onboarding professionals: You need to identify inconsistencies between the job offer and the employment contract before documentation is completed.
• Direct managers: You make decisions related to attendance, leave, warnings, or employee conduct that may later require HR documentation and review.
• Owners of small and medium-sized businesses: You may not have a complete HR function, but employee decisions still involve legal requirements that need to be considered.
• Professionals new to HR: You need a structured starting point rather than building your understanding from disconnected or conflicting sources.

Who is this course not for?

Anyone dealing with an active dispute who needs a legal position on a specific case. The course is designed to build more disciplined HR practice and reduce compliance gaps; it does not replace legal counsel for an individual dispute.

• Verify before applying: Check official sources to confirm what is currently in force before updating an internal policy or procedure.
• Audit employment contracts: Identify missing, unclear, or offer-contradicting terms before contract documentation and onboarding are completed.
• Analyze working time and pay cases: Break down cases involving working hours, rest periods, overtime, or payroll, and identify the record required to support the decision.
• Manage leave: Classify each request correctly and maintain a record showing the decision, its timing, and the basis on which it was made.
• Manage discipline and investigations: Follow a structured process from the initial issue to the final decision, documenting the evidence and hearing the other party before the disciplinary procedure is completed.
• Close the employment relationship: Review the termination case, supporting records, and final settlement steps through one consistent decision path.
• Build a 30-day compliance plan: Prioritize contracts, payroll, leave, discipline, records, and termination activities according to priority and impact.

• Reading materials: Written in decision language — the case, the option, and the required record.
• Pre-readings: Create a shared baseline before each module so module time can focus on application.
• Pre- and post-assessments: The pre-assessment identifies the starting gap, while the post-assessment measures what changed after completing the course.
• Module exercises: Cases drawn from day-to-day HR files that require a decision and a defensible path to it.
• Material language: Arabic, using terminology aligned with the official systems and platforms covered in the course.