14 February 2017

By Fatima Muhammad

Jeddah — The Ministry of Civil Service has announced new regulations for obtaining sick leaves for public sector employees.

The new regulations aim at ensuring that only employees in need will get sick leaves.

An employee will get only one-day off if sick leave document is signed by a doctor at an authorized health center.

When seeking a three-day off an employee must get the required document from a hospital.

A four-day sick leave will be granted only when two doctors one of whom a consultant sign the document.

For more than four days of rest, the sick leave document must be signed by two doctors and a consultant.

For cases needing more than 30 days of rest, the documents need to be examined by four government bodies.

Deputy Minister of Civil Service for Planning and Development Obaid Allah Al-Sanaa said that the aim is to make the granting of sick leaves stringent.

The new regulation is not applicable on private sector employees, clarified spokesman of the Ministry of Labor and Social Development Khaled Aba Al-Khail.

© The Saudi Gazette 2017