Qatar pays three weeks of basic wage a year. There is no maximum.

The simplest end-of-service formula in the Gulf, and the two rules that still catch people out: the one year floor, and what happens to a part year.

The rule

Article 54 of Law No. 14 of 2004 gives a worker three weeks of basic wage for each year of service. Three weeks is 21 days. The base is the last basic wage, not the total salary.

Basic salary QAR 10,000, five years. Daily basic wage is 10,000 ÷ 30 = 333.33. Twenty-one days for each of five years is 105 days, so QAR 35,000.

The one year floor

Article 54 requires one completed year of service. Below that the entitlement has not started. A worker who leaves at eleven months receives no gratuity, whatever the reason for leaving.

After the first year, fractions count in proportion. One year and six months on QAR 10,000 is 21 days plus 10.5 days, which is 31.5 days, or QAR 10,500.

What is not in it

Housing, transport and other allowances are outside the calculation unless the contract says otherwise. This is the opposite of Saudi Arabia, where fixed allowances form part of wage. A worker moving between the two countries and assuming the same rule is how the number goes wrong.

Because the base is basic wage, the same total package can produce very different gratuities depending on how the contract splits it. A QAR 15,000 package with a QAR 6,000 basic pays less than a QAR 12,000 package with an QAR 9,000 basic.

There is no ceiling

The law sets a floor, not a maximum. Nothing in Article 54 caps the award, and many contracts agree a larger package than the statutory minimum. Where a contract promises more, the agreed amount applies.

Deductions and returning

Article 54 allows the employer to deduct any debt the worker owes. Under Article 71 a deduction for damage the worker caused cannot exceed the wage due, and requires an enquiry first.

Service is treated as continuous if the employment ended for a reason outside the Article 61 list and the worker returns within two months. The earlier period then counts toward the gratuity.

Scope

This covers the Qatar mainland private sector. The QFC and the free zones have their own employment rules.

Sources

• Qatar Law No. 14 of 2004, Articles 54 and 71, as implemented in our Qatar gratuity calculator and its test cases.
• Arithmetic in this article is our own.

General information, not legal advice.