Unvaccinated workers will have their leave days reduced, and face limited entry into most places in Saudi Arabia
Employees in the kingdom must present proof of immunity/vaccine against Covid-19.
Tougher Covid-19 measures have been rolled out by the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development on Sunday.
Any unvaccinated workers within the public, private, and non-profit sectors will have their leave days deducted until they are vaccinated against the virus.
Unvaccinated employees can work from home, but in case their work cannot be done remotely and require them to be present in the office/institution, the employee will have their leave deducted from their official leave balance starting August 9.
The Ministry of Interior has also instructed most institutions to bar entry for unvaccinated people from August 1. Employees and workers will need to show proof that they received their Covid-19 vaccine, as approved by the Ministry of Health on the Tawakkalna smart app.
Who's exempt from the new rules?
People who cannot take a Covid-19 vaccine due to medical or other approved reasons will be exempt from the new regulations.
An estimated 350,000 vaccine doses are being administered per day in the kingdom, with the current total vaccination rate of around 78 doses per people in KSA.
Deducted leave for private and non-profit sector workers
In the private and nonprofit sectors, employers will allow unvaccinated employees to go on official leave that will be calculated from their annual leave.
In case the annual leave balance is zero, unvaccinated employees will be granted unpaid leave, and their work contract will be considered suspended during the period once it exceeds 20 days, unless the two parties agree otherwise.
In case of disagreement with an employee, the employer must deal with the consequences as per the procedures approved by Saudi law.
The worker must be informed about decisions issued in this regard, said Arab News.
Deducted leave for public sector workers
Workers in the public sector will use their eligible leave days according to their legally approved conditions and requirements.
In the case those requirements are not met or the employee has exhausted their leave days, then absence days must be deducted from the balance of regular leaves or will be considered as an unpaid leave.
