Saudi Labour Violations & Penalties Schedule
All 57 general labour violations from MHRSD Resolution 112377, with fines by establishment size band and which are multiplied per worker.
The short answer
Saudi Arabia's schedule of labour violations and penalties is set by Ministerial Resolution No. 112377, dated 1447/08/21. It runs to 24 pages and is not one table — it is eleven category tables, each numbered from 1. Fines are banded by establishment size, and most are multiplied by the number of workers involved, which is what turns a SAR 10,000 penalty into a SAR 120,000 one.
How to read a fine
Every amount depends on two things most summaries omit.
First, your establishment's size band. The resolution sets three, and they are not the bands most secondary write-ups quote:
| Band | Establishment size |
|---|---|
| فئة ج · Band C | 20 workers or fewer |
| فئة ب · Band B | 21 to 49 workers |
| فئة أ · Band A | 50 workers or more |
One thing to watch when reading the resolution itself: it uses the same Arabic letters أ / ب / ج for two unrelated things — the three establishment size bands here, and the eleven violation sections further down. A row in section (أ) is not the same as a fine in band أ.
Second, the multiplier. 40 of the 57 general violations carry a phrase such as تتعدد بتعدد العمال — "multiplied by the number of workers". The figure in the table is a unit price, not a total. Twelve workers employed without permits is twelve times the listed amount.
The resolution also opens by preserving anything harsher elsewhere: "without prejudice to any more severe penalties provided for in another law". And 36 of these 57 violations are classified جسيمة — serious, which matters because classification drives escalation, not just the amount.
Section (أ): general violations, all activities
These bind every private-sector employer in the Kingdom regardless of sector. Transcribed from pages 1 to 7 of the resolution.
| No. | Violation | Class | 20 or fewer | 21–49 | 50 or more | Multiplied |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Failure of the employer to comply with the occupational protection, safety and health rules (as approved by the Ministry) and failure to take the precautions necessary to protect workers in all activities; the employer or his agent shall be responsible for accidents in which third parties are injured on the establishment's premises. | Serious | 1,500 | 2,500 | 5,000 | — |
| 2 | Failure of the employer to post occupational safety and health instructions in all the languages of the workers, at minimum (Arabic and English). | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 3 | Failure of the worker to abide by the preventive instructions. | Not serious | 300 | 300 | 300 | per worker |
| 4 | Failure of the employer to take the precautions necessary for fire prevention and failure to provide adequate means of firefighting. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 5 | The employer having a worker work under exposed sunlight, or in adverse weather conditions, without taking the necessary precautions, in accordance with the instructions regulating this. | Serious | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 6 | Failure to provide a first-aid medical cabinet stocked with medicines fit for use, in accordance with the list of cabinet contents stipulated in the Implementing Regulations of the Labor Law. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 7 | Failure of the employer to comply with one of the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Management Regulation, pursuant to the ministerial resolution issued on the matter. | Serious | 300 | 300 | 300 | per requirement |
| 8 | Failure of the employer to provide medical insurance for the worker and the members of his family, taking into account what the Cooperative Health Insurance Law provides. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 9 | Employing children who have not completed fifteen years of age, without observing the provisions of Article (167) of the Labor Law. | Serious | 1,000 | 1,500 | 2,000 | per child |
| 10 | Failure of the establishment to comply with the provisions on employing juveniles set out in Chapter Ten of the Labor Law. | Serious | 500 | 1,000 | 1,500 | per juvenile |
| 11 | Failure of the employer to grant the maternity leave prescribed for a female worker in accordance with Article One Hundred Fifty-One. | Serious | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | per female worker |
| 12 | Absence of a childcare place or a nursery at an establishment employing (50) female workers or more, (where the number of the female workers' children under 6 years of age reaches (10) children or more). | Not serious | n/a | n/a | 3,000 | — |
| 13 | Failure of the employer to establish rules for the workers' dress requirements at the establishment ensuring a professional and decent appearance suited to the job duties at the workplace, to announce them, and to obtain the workers' acknowledgment of awareness of and commitment to them. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 14 | Failure of the employer to impose the penalty on workers who violate the workers' dress requirements. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 15 | Failure of the employer to comply with the night-work rules. | Not serious | 300 | 300 | 300 | per worker |
| 16 | The employer employing the excepted cases during any period of night work. | Serious | 500 | 500 | 500 | per worker |
| 17 | Failure of the employer to comply with the requirements for employing workers in hazardous or harmful occupations or works. | Serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 18 | Failure of the employer to comply with the requirements set out in the Unified Regulation for the Work Environment. | Not serious | 300 | 300 | 300 | per requirement |
| 19 | The employer employing Saudi male workers in activities restricted to Saudi female workers. | Not serious | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 20 | The employer employing a non-Saudi worker who has not obtained a work permit. | Serious | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | per worker |
| 21 | The employer allowing a non-Saudi worker to work in an occupation other than the occupation recorded in the work permit. | Not serious | 3,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | per worker |
| 22 | The employer engaging in any act containing any type of discrimination against his workers, such as discrimination on the basis of sex, disability, age or otherwise, or in his terms and conditions of work, or in wages between workers (men and women) for work of equal value, or any act resulting in nullifying or weakening equality of opportunity. | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per case |
| 23 | Failure of the employer, his agent, or the person in charge at the workplace to facilitate the tasks of the inspectors and officials charged with oversight, or failure to cooperate with them in applying the provisions of the Labor Law. | Serious | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | — |
| 24 | The employer hiring a worker without obtaining a professional work permit in the activities restricted to Saudis, in accordance with the Ministry's requirements. | Serious | 10,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 | per worker |
| 25 | Failure of the establishment to use the Arabic language in employment contracts, in workers' data, records and files, and in the instructions the employer issues to them. | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 26 | Providing incorrect information to the Ministry resulting in obtaining benefits and services | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker involved |
| 27 | Failure of the employer to have the work organization regulation approved by the Ministry, or to announce it to the workers by means that ensure their knowledge of its provisions | Not serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | — |
| 28 | Failure of the employer to open a file for the establishment, or failure to update the locations and data of the establishment and its branches in accordance with the mechanism specified by the Ministry | Serious | 500 | 1,000 | 1,500 | — |
| 29 | The employer employing non-Saudi labour in occupations or activities restricted to Saudis | Serious | 3,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | per worker |
| 30 | Failure of the employer to comply with the Saudization (localization) percentages for occupations and activities for which ministerial resolutions have been issued | Serious | 2,000 | 4,000 | 6,000 | per non-Saudi over the quota |
| 31 | The employer retaining the worker's passport or residence permit (iqama) | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 32 | Failure of the employer to bear the fees and costs it is obliged to bear, or charging them to the workers | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 33 | The employer registering a Saudi worker among the workers of its establishment without an actual employment relationship existing | Serious | 5,000 | 8,000 | 15,000 | per person registered |
| 34 | Failure of the employer to document the workers' contracts electronically | Serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 35 | The employer subjecting the worker to forced labour | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 36 | Failure of the employer to pay the worker's wage and settle his entitlements within a period not exceeding one week from the date of termination of the contractual relationship, or within a period not exceeding two weeks if the termination of the contract was at the worker's own initiative | Not serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 37 | Failure of the employer, after the end of the employment relationship, to give the worker a certificate of service and to return all certificates and documents the worker had deposited with him | Not serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 38 | The employer disposing of disciplinary fines imposed on workers without their approval by the labour committee approved by the Ministry, or by the Ministry where there is no approved labour committee, or disposing of those fines in a manner that does not benefit the workers | Not serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | — |
| 39 | Failure to pay workers' wages and entitlements in the official currency of the country on their specified due dates into their approved bank accounts, or withholding the worker's wage or part of it without a judicial basis | Serious | 300 | 300 | 300 | per worker |
| 40 | Failure of the employer to upload the wage protection file monthly, or failure, when uploading the file monthly, to meet the compliance percentage specified by the Ministry for the Wage Protection Program | Serious | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 | — |
| 41 | Failure to grant the worker the weekly rest approved under the Law, or increasing the number of working hours beyond what Article (98) provides without assignment of overtime, or failure to observe the daily rest periods granted to the worker | Not serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 42 | Failure of the establishment to comply with the leaves prescribed under the Law for the workers | Not serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 43 | Failure to announce the controls for protection against behavioural violations (harassment/abuse) by any means that ensures those subject to them know their provisions and acknowledge their knowledge of and commitment to them | Serious | 500 | 1,000 | 2,000 | — |
| 44 | Failure of the establishment to form a committee to investigate incidents of behavioural violations in the work environment; or failure of the establishment to investigate and recommend the imposition of a disciplinary penalty on the person proven guilty within five working days of receiving the complaint (report); or failure of the establishment to impose the disciplinary penalty on the offending worker in cases of behavioural violations in the work environment, following the committee's recommendation regarding the person proven guilty, within thirty days from the date the guilt is established | Serious | 1,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | per person affected |
| 45 | Failure of the employer to register its workers according to the modern work patterns on the platform approved for that purpose by the Ministry | Serious | 300 | 500 | 1,000 | per worker |
| 46 | Failure of the employer to provide the requirements for the internal or external environment or remote areas for the security guarding sector | Serious | 500 | 500 | 500 | per requirement |
| 47 | Failure of the employer to provide the services and facilitating arrangements enabling persons with disabilities to perform their work duties, in accordance with the Implementing Regulation of the Labour Law | Serious | 500 | 500 | 500 | per service obtained |
| 48 | Carrying out recruitment activity or outsourcing (labour supply) activity, or providing labour services, without obtaining a licence from the Ministry | Serious | 200,000 | 220,000 | 250,000 | — |
| 49 | Carrying out the activity of employing Saudis without obtaining a licence from the Ministry | Serious | 200,000 | 220,000 | 250,000 | — |
| 50 | Failure of the establishment to disclose training data annually in accordance with the regulation specified for that purpose | Not serious | n/a | n/a | 5,000 | — |
| 51 | Failure to comply with the training of Saudi workers in accordance with the percentages and mechanisms specified by the Minister | Not serious | n/a | n/a | 500 | per untrained worker |
| 52 | The employer allowing his worker to work for others, or allowing him to work for his own account | Serious | 10,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | per case |
| 53 | The employer employing another person's worker without obtaining an Ajeer notice | Serious | 10,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | per case |
| 54 | Failure of the establishment to comply with the controls governing the advertising of job vacancies and the conduct of job interviews in accordance with the ministerial resolution regulating that | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per control |
| 55 | The employer using visas issued by the Ministry for a purpose other than that for which they were issued | Serious | 10,000 | 15,000 | 20,000 | per case or worker |
| 56 | Failure of establishments not subject to the occupational hazards branch of the Social Insurance Law to treat the worker when he sustains a work injury or occupational disease, and to bear all direct and indirect expenses necessary for that | Serious | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | per worker |
| 57 | Failure to comply with receiving recruited workers upon their arrival | Serious | 200 | 300 | 400 | per worker |
The other ten sections
Section (أ) is the one that applies to everyone. The remaining ten apply by activity, and an employer in one of those sectors is subject to that section and to (أ).
| # | Letter | Applies to | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ب | Operating mines and quarries | 7 |
| 3 | ج | Regulation on the Organization of the Maritime Employment Contract | 7 |
| 4 | د | Operation and maintenance | 9 |
| 5 | هـ | Rules for practising the recruitment activity and the provision of labour services — "human resources and recruitment companies" | 10 |
| 6 | و | Rules for practising the recruitment activity and the provision of labour services — "recruitment offices" | 16 |
| 7 | ز | Sharing-economy platforms | 19 |
| 8 | ح | Controls on advertising of support/domestic-labour services | 19 |
| 9 | ط | Practising the activity of employing Saudis, recruiting workers, or outsourcing without a licence | 20 |
| 10 | ي | Domestic Labour Regulation | 20 |
| 11 | ك | Regulation for agricultural workers and private herders and those in their ruling | 22 |
Three matter to anyone buying outsourced services. Section ط covers practising the activity of employing Saudis, recruiting workers or outsourcing without a licence at all — the enforcement backdrop to checking that a provider is licensed for what it is selling you. Sections هـ and و set out what a licensed recruitment company and a licensed recruitment office must do, which is the standard your own provider is held to. And section د applies to operation and maintenance activities specifically, so an O&M contractor is subject to it on top of the general list above.
If you are working out which category of arrangement you are actually buying, that question is separate from this schedule and is covered on our Resolution 60339 contract audit.
Where these figures come from
Every row above was read from the resolution as published on the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development website. The published PDF's text layer is corrupt — text extracted from it comes out as unreadable characters, which is why most secondary write-ups quote a handful of violations and contradict one another on the amounts. The pages were read as images instead, and each row records the page it came from.
That also means this page carries no figure we could not read. Where a cell was unclear it was left out rather than guessed.
What SCPL does about it
Most of what is on this list is prevented by the same administrative discipline: contracts authenticated on Qiwa, GOSI registration current for everyone on site, the wage file uploaded monthly through Mudad at the compliance percentage the Ministry sets, work permits matching the profession actually performed, and Saudization tracked against the quota before it slips rather than after. Row 30 above is the Saudization row, and the professions localised at 100% for October 2026 are set out on our October 2026 Saudization deadline page.
That is the substance of our government relations and PRO service and our payroll and WPS compliance work. If you want a view of where you currently stand, the compliance health check is six questions and returns a risk score with the specific exposures named.
Common questions
Is the fine per violation or per worker? It depends on the row. 40 of the 57 general violations carry a multiplier — most commonly per worker, but also per case, per requirement, per child, per juvenile and per female worker. The table above records which applies to each.
Which band applies to my establishment? 20 workers or fewer, 21 to 49, or 50 or more. The band is the establishment's size, not the number of workers involved in the violation — that is what the multiplier handles.
What does "serious" mean? The resolution classifies each violation as جسيمة (serious) or غير جسيمة (not serious). 36 of the 57 general violations are serious. The classification sits alongside the amount and drives how a repeat is treated.
Does this replace the earlier penalty schedules? The resolution states that it takes effect without prejudice to more severe penalties in other laws. We have not reproduced any claim about which earlier resolutions it supersedes, because that is not something we could establish from the document itself.
My activity is not in section (أ). Does it still apply? Yes. Section (أ) applies to all activities. The sector sections add to it rather than replace it.