Annual leave and sick leave in Qatar

Article 79: a worker who has completed a continuous year of service gets paid annual leave of at least three weeks a year, rising to four weeks once service reaches five years. Part of a year earns leave in proportion.

Leave is paid on the basic wage on the date it falls due (Article 72).

The employer sets the dates to suit the work, and may split the leave into no more than two parts with the worker's consent. At the worker's written request, up to half of the leave can be moved to the next year (Article 80).

A worker cannot give up annual leave. If the contract ends before the leave is taken, it is paid in cash (Article 81).

Article 78 gives paid days off each year: three working days for Eid Al-Fitr, three for Eid Al-Adha, one for the national holiday the law names, and three more days set by the employer. Work on these days follows the rest-day rule in Article 75.

Article 82: after three months of service, a worker who proves illness with a report from a physician the employer approves gets paid sick leave in each year of service: full pay for up to two weeks, then half pay for four more weeks, then unpaid leave until the worker returns, resigns or the contract ends for health reasons.

After twelve weeks, the employer may end the contract if a licensed physician reports that the worker cannot return. Up to twelve weeks of sick leave does not break continuous service.

A Muslim worker may take unpaid leave of up to 20 days, once during the service, to perform Hajj (Article 83).