Search "end of service calculator Saudi Arabia" and almost everything you find is written for company employees: half a month per year for the first five years, a full month after that. If you work in a home, as a housemaid, nanny, driver or cook, that formula is not yours, and using it produces a number that is simply wrong. This guide is written for you, the domestic worker, with the correct rule, worked examples, and the exact steps if payment does not come. Employers: the same numbers tell you what to set aside, and your side of the obligations lives in our rights and duties guide, linked below.
The domestic-worker rule, Article 22 of the domestic-labour regulation: one month's wage for every four consecutive years of service. Not half a month per year. Not a month per year. One month per four years, and the general labour-law formula does not apply to household workers.
The formula and what "consecutive" means
Your end-of-service award is one month's wage, the agreed monthly wage in your authenticated Musaned contract, for each four consecutive years you serve with the same employer. Consecutive means with that employer, without the relationship ending in between; renewing the contract with the same family keeps the count running. Under four years, the regulation grants no mandatory award, though your contract can always promise better, and some do. This is one of several places where the domestic regulation and the general labour system differ, and our rights and duties guide maps the rest.
What it looks like in riyals
| Monthly wage (SAR) | 4 years | 8 years | 12 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,200 | 1,200 | 2,400 | 3,600 |
| 1,500 | 1,500 | 3,000 | 4,500 |
| 1,900 | 1,900 | 3,800 | 5,700 |
| 2,500 | 2,500 | 5,000 | 7,500 |
The math is deliberately simple: completed four-year blocks × one month's wage. Where your wage sits against the market by role and nationality is in the Salary Index, and for a quick check of your own numbers use the gratuity calculator.
The two regimes, side by side
Because most search results quote the wrong one, here is the honest comparison. If you clean an office for a company, the general labour law applies. If you work in a household on a Musaned contract, the domestic regulation applies. There is no choosing between them:
| Domestic workers (household) | Company employees (general labour law) | |
|---|---|---|
| Formula | One month's wage per 4 consecutive years | Half a month per year (first 5 years), one month per year after |
| Starts counting from | 4 completed consecutive years | 2 years for resignation cases; service-based scale |
| Who it covers | Housemaids, nannies, drivers, cooks, carers on domestic contracts | Private-sector employees under the Labour Law |
| Where disputes go | Musaned complaints and the 19911 line | Labour courts via the friendly-settlement route |
When it must be paid
The regulation sets real deadlines for your final settlement, wages and end-of-service together. If the employer ends the contract, settlement is due within one week of the end date. If you end it, within two weeks. "We will send it after you travel" is not one of the options, and if you are leaving the Kingdom on a final exit, insist on settlement before the departure; recovering money from abroad is far harder than refusing to board without it.
If you were dismissed unfairly
Article 25 of the regulation adds a separate protection: if the employer ends your contract without a legitimate reason, you are entitled to compensation of two months' wage, on top of wages owed and any end-of-service award your service has earned. If you believe this is your case, say so explicitly when you file the complaint; it is a distinct claim with its own number attached.
When the entitlement can be lost
Article 26 lists cases where the award is forfeited, and the theme is leaving without a lawful cause: a worker who abandons the job without a legitimate reason before the contract ends can lose the entitlement. Two practical notes. First, resigning properly at the end of a contract term is not abandonment; completed four-year blocks remain yours. Second, if an employer claims a forfeiture case against you, ask for it in writing and check it against the regulation before accepting anything; a claim is not a ruling, and 19911 exists precisely for this question.
How to claim it, step by step
- Calculate your number first: completed four-year blocks × monthly wage, plus any unpaid salary and, if dismissed unfairly, the two months' compensation.
- Ask your employer directly, with the calculation shown. Most shortfalls end here.
- Put it in writing, dated. A message is enough; the record is what matters.
- Gather evidence: your authenticated contract, and your e-salary records, since 1 January 2026 every domestic worker's wages flow through approved channels, which means your payment history is documented by design.
- File a complaint through Musaned's channels or call 19911. Unpaid end-of-service is a standard labour complaint, and the e-salary trail makes it a short one.
If the dispute comes with something worse attached, a withheld passport, threats, or wages stopped entirely, do not treat it as a money claim: passport confiscation is unlawful, and these cases go straight to the 19911 line, or to the police if you are in immediate danger.
The award is one line, not the whole settlement
End of service is a package, and the award is only one line of it. Your final settlement should also cover, separately: any unpaid or partial wages, compensation for earned leave you did not take where it applies, the return ticket home where the regulation and your contract place it on the employer in the normal end-of-contract case, and, if your dismissal lacked a legitimate reason, the two months' compensation above. Ask for the settlement as a written list with a number against each item; a single round figure is where entitlements quietly disappear.
Keep your own record, and diary the four-year mark
Two documents decide most disputes before they start: your authenticated Musaned contract and your e-salary payment trail, and since 1 January 2026 the second one builds itself. What the system does not do for you is watch the calendar. The award attaches to completed four-year blocks, so note your start date and diary each anniversary; a worker who knows she is five months from a block completing negotiates the timing of any ending from a very different position. Keep copies of everything in your own phone and email, not on a device someone else controls.
Transfers reset the clock
A service transfer to a new family ends your relationship with the old employer, and that is a real end of service: whatever your completed four-year blocks have earned is settled in that final settlement, on that employer's deadlines. With the new family the count starts again from zero. Two consequences worth weighing before you move: a transfer a few months before a block completes leaves that block's value behind, and a transfer just after one banks it. Time the move with the calendar open, not just the offer.
If your wage changed along the way
The regulation ties the award to your wage, and the common practice in settlements is to calculate on the wage at the end of service. If your wage rose during the years, that works in your favour; state it plainly in the settlement conversation. If an employer proposes calculating old years at old wages, ask for that position in writing and put the question to 19911 before accepting, no signature is required on the spot.
For employers: accrue it, and let raises do double duty
The clean way to carry this obligation is monthly accrual: one month's wage per 48 months of service is about 2% of wage per month, roughly SAR 31 monthly on a SAR 1,500 wage. Families who accrue never face a settlement surprise, and the same discipline makes raise decisions easier: a structured raise both retains a good worker and is the honest base for the award she is accruing. How to structure raises, and what they do to retention, is in our raises and retention guide.
Common mistakes that cost workers money
- Calculating with the company formula. Half-a-month-per-year articles dominate search results and produce the wrong number for household workers, sometimes higher, which sets up a dispute you will lose. Use Article 22.
- Breaking service just before a four-year mark. The award attaches to consecutive four-year blocks with the same employer. If you are months from the mark, that timing is worth real money.
- Accepting cash "settlement" with no record. Since the e-salary mandate, documented payment is the norm; a final settlement outside the channels is invisible in any later dispute.
- Signing a final receipt before the money arrives. A signed release for unpaid amounts is the hardest evidence to argue with, in the wrong direction.
- Missing the deadlines. One week (employer ends it) or two weeks (you end it). Past that, the delay itself belongs in your complaint.
The bottom line
One month's wage per four consecutive years, settled with your final wages within a week or two of the end, plus two months' compensation if you were dismissed without cause, and a forfeiture rule that punishes abandonment, not resignation. That is the whole picture, and your e-salary records mean the evidence is already on your side. Check your numbers with the gratuity calculator, and if the end of one contract is the start of your next search, the transfer guide explains how moving to a new family works.
