Holidays

• 9th February – National Sports Day (second Tuesday in February)
• 13th May – Eid Al Fitr (End of Ramadan – 3 days off)
• 20th July – Eid Al Adha – 4 days off
• 18th December – National Day (Founder’s Day)

Employees are entitled to be fully paid during the holiday leave. If the circumstances of the work require the employee to work during any such leave days, the provisions of an article of this law shall be applied to him.

PTO

The employee who has completed one continuous year of service for the employer is entitled to an annual leave with the pay. This leave shall not be less than three weeks for the employee whose service is less than five years and, four weeks for the employee whose service is more than five years. 

The employer shall fix the date- of the annual leave for the employee in accordance with the work requirements and may divide the leave with the consent of the employee provided that the division shall not be into more than two periods. 

Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

The employer may on a written application of the employee postpone not more than half of the annual leave to the year following the year of its entitlement.

• PTO payout at the termination

The employee is entitled to payment in lieu of his annual leave equivalent to his wage for the leave days to which he is entitled if the contract is terminated for any reason before the employee takes his leave.

Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Parental Leave

A female employee who has been employed by an employer for a complete year is entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of fifty days. Such maternity leave includes the period before and after the delivery provided that the period following the delivery is not less than thirty-five days.

This leave will be granted subject to a medical certificate issued by a licensed physician stating the probable date of delivery.

If the remaining period of the leave after delivery is less than thirty days, the female employee may be granted a complementary leave from her annual leave. Otherwise, the complementary period shall be deemed to be on leave without pay. 

If the medical condition of the female employee prevents her from resuming her work after the expiry of her leave referred to in the preceding paragraphs the female employee will be deemed to be on leave without pay provided that the period of her absence from works shall not exceed sixty consecutive or interrupted days and provided that a medical certificate of her medical condition is produced from a licensed physician.

Sick Leave, Paid Sick Leave, and Family Care Leave

The employee is entitled to sick leave with pay for every year of his service. This sick leave will not be granted unless after three months from the commencement of his engagement for the first time provided that the employee proves his sickness by a certificate from a physician approved by the employer.

The employee is entitled to his full wage if the sick leave does not exceed two weeks. If the sick leave extends thereafter the employee is entitled to half of his wage for the other four weeks. The extension of the sick leave thereafter will be without pay until the employee resumes his work or resigns, or his service is terminated for health reasons. The service of the employee may be terminated at the end of the twelfth week of the sick leave if it has been proved by a report issued by the competent physician that the employee is unable to resume his work at that time.

Jury Duty Leave and Voting Leave (Leave due to Public Interest)

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

Employees are entitled to bereavement leave of three days with gross salary on the death inside the country of a relative of the first or second-grade relative, and seven days where the death occurred abroad.

Military Leave

Not Specified by law.

Please consult your local legal counsel to learn more about Qatar Leave Laws.

To learn more about laws in various countries, check out our Leave Laws page.