Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106) - Saudi Arabia (Ratification: 1978)

Article 7 of the Convention. Special weekly rest schemes. The Committee notes that section 105 of the new Labour Law (Royal Decree No. M/51 of 27 September 2005) permits the accumulation of weekly rest days over a period of eight weeks in case of work taking place in remote areas and requiring continuous work due to its nature, subject to the agreement between the employer and the workers concerned and to the approval of the Ministry of Labour. It recalls, in this respect, that according to the spirit of the Convention workers should enjoy a minimum period of rest and leisure at regular weekly, or in any event reasonably short, intervals. In this connection, it refers to Paragraph 3 of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), which indicates that persons to whom special weekly rest schemes apply should not work for more than three weeks without receiving the rest periods to which they are entitled. The Committee therefore requests the Government to re-examine the appropriateness of granting accumulated weekly rest once every two months and consider the possibility of amending the relevant provision of the Labour Law accordingly.

Article 8(3). Temporary exceptions – compensatory rest. The Committee has been commenting for a number of years on the absence of a legislative provision to guarantee that compensatory rest is granted whenever work is performed on the day of weekly rest. In this respect, it notes with interest the adoption of the new Labour Law, section 104(1) of which provides that the weekly rest may not be compensated by cash. However, the Committee notes that section 106 of the Labour Law permits temporary exceptions from the normal weekly rest scheme (i.e. 24 hours of rest at full pay every Friday for all workers) on various grounds, including accident, loss of perishable materials or abnormal pressure of work (up to a limit of 30 days a year). While noting the 60 working hours’ weekly limit, set by the Labour Law in the case of overtime work, the Committee requests the Government to clarify how it is ensured in law and practice that workers who are called upon to perform work on their day of weekly rest are granted in all cases a compensatory period of rest of a total duration of 24 hours, as prescribed by this Article of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Convention is applied in a satisfactory manner. Recalling, however, that the Government has not provided any information concerning the practical application of the Convention since its ratification, it would appreciate receiving up to date information in this regard, including, for instance, statistics on the approximate number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, labour inspection results showing the number of contraventions observed concerning weekly rest and sanctions imposed, copies of collective agreements containing provisions on special weekly rest arrangements, etc.