After completing one year of service with the employer, a worker is entitled to a prepaid annual leave of no less than 21 days to be increased to a period of no less than 30 days if the worker spends five consecutive years in the employer’s service.

The worker and the employer may agree on a period more than the above if it is stipulated in the work contract or is mentioned in the firm’s work regulations.

The employer will have the right to determine the beginning of the employees’ vacation according to work requirement.

The worker may, after his employer’s approval, have an unpaid vacation for a period agreed by the two parties.

The work contract will be deemed suspended for any period exceeding 20 days of this vacation, unless otherwise agreed upon. The law does not allow giving compensation for the cancellation of an employee’s vacation. An employee must get vacation to rest and to preserve his energy and human status. A worker is entitled to other paid leaves as follows:

• Three days of paid leave for marriage, or in the case of the death of a spouse or one of his ascendants or descendants.

• One day paid leave in the case of childbirth,

• Three days for Eid Al-Fitr starting from the day following Ramadan 29.

• Four days for Eid Al-Adha starting from Dhu Al-Hijjah 9. This will be increased to 10 days if the worker intends to perform Haj. This increase will only take place once during his service if he has not performed it before, provided he has completed two years of service with the employer.

• One day for the Kingdom’s National Day (Sept. 23).

Ensure you resign at the end of your contract if you have a definite period of termination. If not, postpone your resignation until the end of your work permit, which by law would be the termination date for your service.

If you do not heed to that, you could be liable to compensate your employer for breach of contract. If your employer still wants you to continue to work for him, and you insist on leaving, you will have to stay away for one year if your job is a small one as an accountant.

In your case, if your job is high and you have access to your employer’s trade secrets, you will have to stay away for three years. This is according to valid old circulars that the new Labor Law has not abrogated.

The employer can have in his contract any option that protects his work. He may have the option to ask the employee to continue work for two more years after termination, or leave and not return for two years.

He may also have a condition that he has the right to put the employee to work in any similar category or change the place of his work.