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Last updated on: April 27th, 2022
Labor Requirements
The employment relationship in Qatar is principally governed by the provisions of Law No. 14 of 2004 Regulating Employment, adopted 19 May 2004.
Hours & Pay Regulations
Normal Working Hours
The maximum ordinary working hours shall be 48 hours per week, at the rate of 8 hours per day throughout all months of the year, except for the month of Ramadan, when the maximum working hours shall be 36 hours per week at the rate of 6 hours per day. Art 73 of Labour Regulation.
Record Keeping
The employer shall maintain the following registers:-
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- The employees register shall, contain the names, nationalities, jobs, amounts of wage, date of commencement of work, marital status, academic and professional qualifications, leaves of the employees, and the penalties inflicted upon him.
- The wages’ register, where the names of the employees in the order of their engagement in the work, the amounts of daily, weekly or monthly wages, or piece or production wages and their additions in respect of every employee, the additional wages paid to them, the amounts of deductions and the net wages received by every employee.
- The register of total penalties where the monetary penalties are inflicted upon the employees and the total amount thereof shall be entered.
- The register of work injuries where the work injuries sustained by every employee shall be entered.
- The end of service register where the names of the employees whose services have been terminated, the dates and causes of the termination, and the entitlements paid to them or to their heirs shall be entered.
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Art 48 of Labour Regulation.
Overtime
An employee may work overtime hours more than the working hours, provided that the actual working hours per day shall not exceed 10 hours unless the continuation of the work is necessary for the prevention of gross loss or dangerous accident or for mitigation of the consequences of the said loss or accident.
Pay
The Employer shall pay the employee for the overtime hours not less than the regular wage due for the ordinary working hours plus an increment of not less than 25%. Art 74 of Labor Regulation.
Night Work
Night work is hours between 9 pm and 6 am.
Pay
Employees who work between 9 pm and 6 am shall be paid the regular wage plus an increase of not less than 50% with the exception of the shift employees. Art 74 of Labour Regulation.
Breaks
The working hours include one or more intervals for prayer, rest, and the taking of meals which shall not be less than 1 hour and not more than 3 hours.
These intervals shall not be counted in the calculation of the working hours or taken into consideration in specifying intervals or intervals of rest, and the employee shall not work for more than five consecutive hours. Art 73 of Labor Regulation.
Weekly Rest
An employee is entitled a paid weekly rest, not to be less than 24 consecutive hours. Friday is the usual weekly rest day for all the employees, except the shift employee. With exception of the shift employee, it shall not be permitted to employ the employee for two consecutive Fridays.
Work On Rest Days
If an employee is required to work on the weekly rest day, he shall be compensated for the rest day by another day, and be paid for such work what is payable to him on the weekly rest day or the due regular wage plus an increment of at least 50% thereof. Art 75 of Labor Regulation.
Public Holidays
Employee shall be entitled to the following 11 holidays with full Remuneration as follows:
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- 3 working days for Eid EL-Fitr.
- 3 working days for Eid Al-Adha.
- 1 working day for Independence Day.
- 3 working days to be specified by the Employer.
- Qatar National Day is held on 18th December every year in celebration and commemoration of Sheikh Jassim Bin Mohammad Al-Thani, the founder of the State of Qatar.
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Work on Public Holiday
If the circumstances require the employee to work during any Holiday, the employee will be entitled to another day in lieu along with regular wage payable to him on a holiday, or the regular wage plus an increment of at least 50% thereof. Art 78 of Labour Regulation.
Annual Leave
An employee who has completed a continuous whole year in the service of the Employer shall be entitled to annual leave. This leave shall not be less than 3 weeks for the employment of fewer than five years, and 4 weeks for the employment of five years or more. Hence the employee shall be entitled to a leave for fractions of the year in proportion to the period of his service.
The Employer shall determine the date of the annual leave for the employee and may divide the leave with the consent of the employee provided that the division shall not be into more than 2 periods.
The Employer may, by virtue of a written request from the employee, postpone not more than half of the annual leave to the next year following its maturity. If the Employment Contract ended, for any reason, before taking such leave, the employee shall be entitled to a cash alternative equivalent to his payment for the due leave days.
Payment for Annual Leave
The wage of the employee during the annual leave and his end of service gratuity shall be calculated on the basis of his basic wage on the date of entitlement. Art 72, 79-81 of Labor Regulation.
Special Leave
Employees shall be entitled to sick leave with pay for each year of his service. Employees who become entitled to sick leave after completing 3 months of service with the employer, provided that the employee proves his sickness by a medical report issued by the competent physician approved by the Employer.
The employee shall receive his full remuneration if the period of the sick leave did not exceed 2 weeks. If the sick leave extends the employee shall be paid half of his remuneration for the other 4 weeks. The extension of the sick leave thereafter shall be unpaid until the employee resumes his work or resigns or his service is terminated for health reasons.
Employment of the employee may be terminated at the end of the 12th week of the sick leave if it has been proved by a report issued by the Licensed Physician that the employee is unable to resume his work at that time.
If the employee resigns by reason of sickness, and with the approval of the Licensed Physician, before the end of the 6 weeks to which the employee is entitled as sick leave with pay, the employer shall pay to him the balance of his entitlements. This provision shall also apply in the event of death by reason of sickness before the end of the aforesaid 6 weeks.
Payment for Sick Leave
The wage of the employee during the sick leave and his end of service gratuity shall be calculated on the basis of his basic wage on the date of entitlement and if the employee is employed on a piece-by-piece work basis the entitlement shall be calculated on the basis of his average wages for the three months preceding the date of entitlement. Art 82 of Labour Regulation.
Muslim employees shall be entitled to have a special leave without pay not exceeding 20 days for the performance of the pilgrimage duty once throughout his service period. The employer shall determine annually the number of employees offered such leave, in accordance with the work requirements, subject to giving priority to the employee who has spent the longest continuous period in service. Art 83 of Labour Regulation.
A female employee who has been employed by an employer for a complete year shall be entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of 50 days. Such maternity leave shall include the period before and after the delivery provided that the period following the delivery shall not be less than 35 days.
If the remaining period of the leave after delivery is less than 30 days the female employee may be granted complimentary leave from her annual leave. Otherwise, the complementary period shall be deemed to be leave without pay.
If the medical condition of the female employee prevents her from resuming her work after the expiry of her leave the female employee shall be deemed to be on leave without pay provided that the period of her absence from works shall not exceed 60 consecutive or interrupted days and provided that a medical certificate of her medical condition shall be produced from a licensed physician.
Breastfeeding Break
The nursing female employee shall be entitled in addition to her entitlement to the rest interval, to a nursing interval which shall not be less than 1 hour per day. The fixing of the nursing times shall be made by the female employee. The nursing interval shall be calculated as part of the working hours and shall not result in a deduction of wage. Art 96-97 of Labour Regulation.
