Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Saudi Arabia (Ratification: 1978)

Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. Total or partial exceptions – Compensatory rest. The Committee notes that, under section 105 of the Labour Law of 2005, in remote areas and in jobs where the nature of work and operational conditions require continuous work, weekly rest periods accruing to the worker may be accumulated for up to eight weeks if the employer and the employee so agree, subject also to the Ministry’s approval. The Committee wishes to recall that, according to the spirit of the Convention, workers should receive compensatory rest within a reasonably short period of time after having performed work on a weekly rest day so as to enjoy as much as possible a minimum period of rest and leisure at regular intervals. In this respect, the Committee refers to Paragraph 3 of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), which provides 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 requests the Government to indicate the approximate number of workers and industrial establishments concerned by consolidated weekly rest arrangements under section 105 of the Labour Law, and to consider the possibility of reducing the period over which weekly rest may be accumulated.