Saudi Arabia End-of-Service Benefit Explained: Article 84 & 85 in Full 2026

It's a mandatory lump-sum payout under Article 84 of Saudi Labor Law (Royal Decree No. M/51), owed to any employee, expat or Saudi national, whose employment ends after at least the minimum qualifying service. It's a genuine statutory entitlement, not a discretionary employer benefit, though exactly how much you receive depends heavily on whether your employment ends by termination or resignation, covered by a separate rule, Article 85.

Half a month's wage for each of the first 5 years of service, then a full month's wage for each year after that, uncapped, no maximum payout ceiling. On a SAR 15,000/month wage, that's SAR 37,500 accrued by year 5, and SAR 112,500 by year 10 as the higher full-month rate kicks in for years 6 onward.

Because Article 85 applies a completely separate reduction schedule when the employee resigns rather than being terminated by the employer. At under 2 years of service, a resigning employee gets nothing at all. From 2 to under 5 years, only one-third of the full award. From 5 to under 10 years, two-thirds. Only at 10+ years does resignation pay the full amount, identical to termination. On a SAR 15,000/month wage at year 5, that's the difference between SAR 37,500 (termination) and SAR 25,000 (resignation), a genuinely large gap that most headline EOSB figures don't disclose.

Almost always, with one real exception: Article 80 misconduct dismissals (serious cause, like gross misconduct) forfeit EOSB entirely, this is a narrow, specific carve-out, not the general rule. Redundancy, employer-initiated termination without cause, and most other employer-side exits pay the full Article 84 award regardless of tenure length, the resignation reduction schedule simply doesn't apply to them.

Basic wage, not the full package including housing allowance, transport, and other benefits. This matters in Gulf packages that are commonly split between a basic salary and separate allowances, a package weighted more heavily toward allowances over basic pay accrues a smaller EOSB than an identical total package weighted toward basic, worth factoring into any offer negotiation, covered in more depth in our negotiating a Saudi expat package guide.

No. Saudi Arabia's Article 84 EOSB is genuinely uncapped, it keeps accruing at the full-month rate indefinitely past year 5, with no maximum payout ceiling. The UAE, by contrast, caps its gratuity at two years' basic salary regardless of tenure beyond that point, a real structural advantage for long-tenure employees in Saudi Arabia over an equivalent stay in the UAE.

Closely, but not identically. Qatar's Article 54 leads Saudi's Article 84 through the first 15 years of tenure at the same wage, but both converge to an identical payout by year 20, after which Saudi's slightly higher full-month post-year-5 rate overtakes Qatar's. Qatar also has no resignation-reduction rule at all, paying the same amount regardless of who initiated the departure, a genuinely more employee-favourable structure than Saudi's Article 85 on that specific point. See our full Qatar vs Saudi Arabia comparison for the year-by-year breakdown.