Huroob in Saudi Arabia: Absent From Work Report and Your Rights

You opened the services app to renew your iqama and found your status shown as “absent from work” (munqati' 'an al-'amal). You did not run away; you were in a dispute with your employer over late salaries. This report, which people call a “huroob” (escape) report, changes your legal status quickly, which is why it needs action in its first days.

The direct answer: under the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development's rules updated in October 2022, the employer files a request to end the contractual relationship because the worker has stopped coming to work, and your status becomes “absent from work”. Within 60 days you may move to another employer or leave on final exit; if the period passes with no action, your status changes to “absconding from work” (mutaghayyib 'an al-'amal). The report does not cancel your financial rights, and on its own it does not allow the employer to deny you the end-of-service award.

What does a huroob or absent-from-work report mean?

The report is an administrative step in the Ministry's systems by which the employer ends the contractual relationship because the worker stopped coming to work. The Ministry has announced that an establishment that accepts the transfer of a worker in this situation takes over the financial obligations attached to him once it agrees. So the time limit matters: you have sixty days to find a new employer or arrange your final exit.

The Implementing Regulations of the Labor Law take this situation into account in the conditions for transferring services. An establishment that has a worker whose work permit or iqama has expired cannot receive transferred workers, except where more than fifteen days have passed since that worker was reported absent (Article 14, second/2 of the Regulations). In other words, a worker reported absent does not block the establishment that wants to hire someone else.

When does absence allow dismissal without an award?

Article 80 of the Labor Law allows the employer to terminate the contract without award, notice or compensation if the worker is absent without a valid reason for more than thirty days during the contract year or more than fifteen consecutive days, provided the dismissal is preceded by a written warning after twenty days of absence in the first case or ten days in the second, and the worker is given a chance to state his objections. So real absence has consequences, but a baseless report does not create absence that did not happen.

A worker whose salaries were not paid for three months stopped coming to work after sending the company a letter claiming his wage and relying on Article 81.

A week later the company filed an absence report.

Here his absence has a documented reason, and non-payment of wages for three consecutive months is one of the cases in the Regulations for transferring services without consent. So he starts with a transfer request and amicable settlement within the 60-day window.

What should you do if the report is malicious or wrong?

• Collect proof of your attendance or the reason you stopped: attendance records, work messages, and any earlier complaint about late salaries.
• File your complaint through the Ministry's official channels and an amicable settlement request for your rights as soon as possible.
• If you have a case against the employer that he has prolonged, for example by missing two hearings at the same court level without an excuse, or he has not paid your wage for three consecutive months, the Regulations allow your services to be transferred without his consent (Article 14, second/8).
• A false report that caused you harm may be the basis for a compensation claim, because every fault that causes harm to another obliges the person who committed it to compensate (Article 120 of the Civil Transactions Law).

Does the report cancel your financial rights?

No. Your unpaid wage, end-of-service award and leave pay are rights arising from the contract. You claim them through amicable settlement and then the Labor Court within twelve months of the end of the employment relationship (Article 234). You can be denied the award only if one of the Article 80 cases is proved with its conditions.

The report procedures and time limits on the Ministry's platforms are administrative and may be updated, so check your status and the remaining time in your account on Qiwa (the Ministry's labour services platform) or Absher (the Interior Ministry's e-services platform) as soon as you learn of the report.

This is general information based on the official Arabic texts of Saudi laws, which prevail over any translation. It is not legal advice for your specific case.

Practical solutions for the worker and the employer

If you are the worker:

• Act as soon as you learn of the report; the sixty-day window decides your options to transfer or leave.
• Document the reason for your absence, if any: late salaries, being prevented from working, or illness with an approved report.
• File a labor complaint for your rights, because an existing dispute may open the door to transfer without consent.
• Do not work for anyone other than your employer in an irregular way during the dispute (Article 39).

If you are the employer:

• File the report only after the absence has actually happened and is documented.
• Send the written warning within the periods set by Article 80 before any dismissal without award.
• If you have a wage dispute with the worker, the report does not solve it and may turn against you.
• Keep attendance and communication records; they are your first defence.

An absence report needs action in its first days. Send us on WhatsApp the date of the report, your contract and proof of the reason for the absence, and we will explain the best step to protect your residence or your establishment.