How many hours can an employee work in Saudi Arabia?

Under Article 98 of the Labor Law, no more than 8 actual working hours a day if the employer uses the daily standard, or 48 hours a week if it uses the weekly standard. Rest, prayer and meal breaks are not counted as working hours.

What are working hours during Ramadan?

For Muslim workers, actual working hours during Ramadan are reduced to a maximum of 6 hours a day or 36 hours a week.

How is overtime calculated in Saudi Arabia?

Article 107 sets overtime pay at the hourly wage plus 50% of the basic wage. The Ministry's 2025 awareness guide applies it as the actual hourly wage (basic plus allowances) plus 50% of the basic hourly wage, dividing the monthly wage by 30 days and 8 hours.

Is there a limit on overtime hours per year?

Yes. According to the Ministry, overtime may not exceed 720 hours a year, and it may be increased beyond that with the worker's consent (Article 22 of the Implementing Regulations).

Can overtime be compensated with leave instead of pay?

Yes, if the worker agrees. The Ministry's guide says compensation must be at least one and a half hours of leave for each overtime hour, used within 60 days unless agreed otherwise, and compensatory leave may not exceed 30 days a year.

Does work on public holidays count as overtime?

Yes. All hours worked on official holidays and Eids are treated as overtime hours.

Saudi Labor Law: Working Hours & Overtime Rules

Every attendance report in Saudi Arabia eventually meets the same rules: how long people may work, when they must rest, and what an extra hour costs. This guide sets out those rules from the Labor Law and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (HRSD), shows how to calculate overtime with a worked example, and explains how to configure an attendance system so the numbers come out right. The rules are as published by HRSD as of September 2026; TECFY is a software company, not a law firm, so check specific cases with HRSD or a labour lawyer.

Short answer: the limit is 8 hours a day or 48 a week (Article 98), cut to 6 a day or 36 a week for Muslims in Ramadan, with a break of at least 30 minutes after 5 consecutive hours. Overtime pays the hourly wage plus 50% of the basic wage (Article 107) — in practice, actual hourly wage + half the basic hourly wage. Overtime is capped at 720 hours a year unless the worker agrees to more, and all hours on public holidays and Eids are overtime.

What are the legal working hours?

Rule	Limit	Source
Normal working hours	8 actual hours a day (daily standard) or 48 a week (weekly standard)	Article 98
Ramadan, Muslim workers	6 hours a day or 36 a week	Article 98
Adjusted categories	May be raised to 9 hours a day for certain categories and industries, or reduced to 7 for hazardous work	Article 99
Breaks	At least 30 minutes after every 5 consecutive hours; rest, prayer and meal breaks are not working time	Article 101, HRSD guide
Weekly rest	A weekly rest day that cannot be replaced with cash; Friday unless another day is agreed and the labour office notified	HRSD guide
Posting	Working hours, rest periods and shift times must be displayed at the workplace	HRSD guide

Sources: HRSD — actual working hours and the HRSD awareness guide on rights and duties (2025).

Hours beyond the daily or weekly standard are overtime. In Ramadan, scheduling Muslim employees for more than the reduced limit means those extra hours are treated as overtime too.

How is overtime pay calculated?

Article 107: the employer pays for each overtime hour the hourly wage plus 50% of the basic wage. HRSD's awareness guide shows how it is applied:

Actual hourly wage = (basic + allowances) ÷ 30 days ÷ 8 hours.
Basic hourly wage = basic salary ÷ 30 ÷ 8.
Overtime hourly rate = actual hourly wage + (50% × basic hourly wage).

Allowances such as housing or transport are not part of the basic wage unless the employment contract or internal regulations say so (HRSD — overtime hours).

A worked example

An employee earns a basic salary of 5,000 SAR, a housing allowance of 1,250 SAR and a transport allowance of 500 SAR, and works 12 overtime hours in the month.

Step	Calculation	Result
Actual monthly wage	5,000 + 1,250 + 500	6,750 SAR
Actual hourly wage	6,750 ÷ 30 ÷ 8	28.13 SAR
Basic hourly wage	5,000 ÷ 30 ÷ 8	20.83 SAR
Premium (50% of basic hourly)	20.83 × 0.5	10.42 SAR
Overtime hourly rate	28.13 + 10.42	38.54 SAR
Overtime pay for 12 hours	38.54 × 12	462.50 SAR

A common mistake is to pay "1.5 × basic hourly" (31.25 SAR here), which ignores allowances and underpays. Another is to pay 1.5 × the full actual wage, which overpays.

Limits and alternatives to paying overtime

Rule	Detail
Annual cap	720 overtime hours a year; more only with the worker's consent (Implementing Regulations, Article 22)
Public holidays and Eids	All hours worked are overtime
Compensatory leave instead of pay	Only with the worker's agreement; at least 1.5 hours of leave per overtime hour
Using compensatory leave	Within 60 days of the overtime, unless agreed otherwise
Compensatory leave ceiling	No more than 30 days a year

With compensatory leave, the 12 overtime hours in the example become at least 18 hours of paid leave.

Official holidays that trigger overtime

Per the HRSD guide: Eid al-Fitr, 4 days starting the day after 29 Ramadan; Eid al-Adha, 4 days starting on the Day of Arafah; Founding Day, 22 February; National Day, 23 September.

Track overtime correctly with TECFY Attendance

Setting up attendance so the numbers are right

The formula is only as good as the hours fed into it. In TECFY Attendance — and in any serious attendance system — the rules above map to settings:

Legal rule	Setting in TECFY Attendance
8-hour day, 48-hour week	Shift start and end times, and total shift minutes, on each shift
When overtime starts	Overtime start time on the shift, with maximum and minimum totals so staying late by accident is not counted
Ramadan hours	A separate Ramadan weekly schedule assigned from a start date — do not edit the normal schedule
Night shifts	Day offset on the end time, so a 10 pm–6 am shift is not read as negative hours
Holidays count as overtime	Public holidays calendar entered before the month starts; work on those days goes through an overtime request of the right type
Normal-day vs holiday overtime	Overtime types, so each category can be reported separately
Overtime actually worked	Overtime request → approval → completion report; only the report counts
Cost control	Overtime quotas per period for a department or sector

Overtime in TECFY Attendance is counted in minutes per day and totalled per period; the monthly reports and exports then go to whoever calculates pay. TECFY Attendance does not calculate payslips itself — see how attendance totals reach payroll, Mudad and WPS.

Quick checklist for HR

Is each contract clear about which allowances, if any, are part of the basic wage?
Is overtime approved in advance, and is the time actually worked confirmed?
Are you tracking each employee's annual overtime against 720 hours?
Is the Ramadan schedule ready before the month starts?
Are official holidays in the calendar before the month starts?
If you offer leave instead of pay, is the worker's agreement documented?

Choosing a system to do this? Compare Jisr, ZenHR and TECFY Attendance or see the best attendance apps in Saudi Arabia.