Paid Time Off
In Qatar, the annual leave entitlement is dependent on the employee’s seniority:
For employees with less than one year of service, the employee receives a percentage of annual leave, determined by the employer.
For employees with one year of service, employee receives three weeks of annual leave.
Employees with more than five years of service are entitled to four weeks of annual leave.
An employee can take annual leave in a maximum of two different periods. Any untaken leave can be carried over to the next vacation year following the employer’s agreement.
Public Holidays
There are 11 public holidays.
Sick Days
An employee is entitled to two weeks of paid sickness compensated at 100% of the employee’s salary following the completion of three months of service with a single employer. After the initial 14 days of sickness, an employee can receive another four weeks of paid leave at the rate of 50.00% of the employee’s salary. Any sickness beyond that is unpaid.
Maternity Leave
Female employees are entitled to 50 days of paid maternity leave in Qatar; the employee must take no less than 35 days of leave following the child’s birth. In the case of a complicated birth, an employee can extend her maternity leave by an additional 60 days of unpaid leave providing the employee can provide a medical certificate. To be eligible for the maternity entitlement, an employee must have worked for their employer for a minimum of one year.
Paternity Leave
There is no legal requirement for an employer to provide paternity leave to their employees. However, it is typical for an employer to offer five days leave to fathers following the birth of their child.
Parental Leave
There are no provisions in the law regarding parental leave.
Other Leave
In Qatar, Muslim employees may be entitled to a one-time pilgrimage leave of 20 days if they wish to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.
