Qatar

• Eid El-Fitr
• Eid Al-Adha
• Independence Day

Working Hours

48 hours a week at the rate of eight hours a day, except during the month of Ramadan, when the maximum working hours will be 36 hours a month.

Workers are entitled to at least one day of rest a week, Friday being the common holiday for all workers.

No employee should be made to work two or more Fridays in a row.

Minimum Wage

In Qatar, minimum wage is 1000 Qatari riyals per month, plus 500 riyals for accommodation expenses, and 300 riyals per month for food, unless provided by the employer.

As of 2024, the minimum wage remains unchanged.

Employee Tax

Tax rate	0%
Social security contribution	7%

Bonuses

There are no statutory bonus schemes in Qatar.

Contracts must be written in Arabic, and attested by the Dept of Labour, and must comprise of three copies, one for employer, one for employee and one for the Dept of Labour.

The contract should specify the employee’s basic salary; job title; duties and responsibilities; the period of the contract; and possibly also details of the reporting structure and performance measures of the company and termination conditions.

Contracts can be of a limited or unlimited duration.

Fixed-term contracts are permitted in Qatar, but the duration cannot exceed 5 years.

Annual Leave

Employees with 1 to 5 years’ service are entitled to 3 weeks of paid leave. Employees with 5 years’ service or more are entitled to 4 weeks of paid leave.

Sick Leave

Employees are entitled to sick leave after completing three months of service. The structure of paid sick leave is as follows:

• First two (2) weeks: The employee is entitled to full pay.
• Next four (4) weeks: The employee receives half pay.
• After six (6) weeks: The sick leave is considered unpaid. However, the employee can remain on sick leave for up to 12 weeks.

At the end of the 12th week of sick leave, if a report is issued by a competent physician that the employee is unable to resume work, the employment contract of the employee may be terminated.

Parental Leave

Qatar offers employees who have been employed for a full year maternity leave of fifty days.

The employee is entitled to a rest interval of one hour per day for the purpose of nursing the baby for one year after delivery.

There is no legal entitlement to paternity leave.

Termination Process

Employers in Qatar may dismiss the worker without notice and without payment of the end of service gratuity if they violate any of a list of stipulations.

Severance Pay

In Qatar, the employer must pay an end of service gratuity to the employee if he has completed more than one year of employment. This gratuity shall be agreed upon by the two parties, provided that it is not less than a three-week wage for every year of employment.

The employee shall be entitled to gratuity for the fractions of the year in proportion to the duration of employment. The last basic wage shall be the basis for the calculation of the gratuity.

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