Work Injury Compensation in Saudi Arabia: A Guide for Expat Workers

Which system applies to you

The Labor Law's chapter on work injuries does not apply to establishments covered by GOSI's Occupational Hazards Branch (Article 132). Most private-sector employers register their non-Saudi workers with GOSI for occupational hazards. If yours did, GOSI handles your treatment and benefits.

If your employer did not register you, the Labor Law's work-injury rules apply directly to the employer:

• Treatment: the employer must treat you and pay the direct and indirect costs, including hospital admission, tests and transport (Article 133).
• Wages while you cannot work: the employer pays your full wage for the first 60 days, then 75% of your wage for the rest of your treatment. If treatment lasts a year, or recovery is medically unlikely, the injury is treated as total disability: the contract ends, compensation is due, and the employer cannot recover what it paid during that year (Article 137).
• Permanent disability or death: if the injury causes total permanent disability or death, the compensation is three years' wages, with a minimum of SAR 54,000 (Article 138).

So the first step is to check your GOSI registration, which you can do through GOSI's online services.

What GOSI occupational hazards cover provides

According to GOSI's published Occupational Hazards Branch benefits:

• Medical care. Treatment at GOSI-owned or contracted facilities, with no time limit, for as long as your condition requires it. This includes doctors, specialists, tests, hospital admission, medical supplies, prostheses and transport.
• Daily allowance while you are temporarily unable to work. Paid from the day after the injury, at 100% of your daily wage based on the month before the injury. It drops to 75% while you are being treated at GOSI's expense.
• Lump-sum compensation for non-Saudis. If the injury leaves a permanent disability, non-Saudi workers can receive a single lump sum instead of a monthly benefit.
• Death benefits. Eligible family members receive benefits, and GOSI covers repatriation of the body to the home country.

Deadlines you must not miss

GOSI's published rules set short reporting periods:

• You must tell your employer within 7 days of the injury, or of a setback. If you report late, you can lose the daily allowance for the period before you reported.
• Your employer must report the injury to GOSI within 3 days of learning of it, if it needed more than first aid.
• Emergency treatment outside GOSI's network must be reported to GOSI within 3 days.
• Claims lapse. A claim for the daily allowance lapses after one year. Other benefit claims lapse after five years, unless GOSI accepts a valid excuse.

Practical example: A rigger at a Jubail fabrication yard breaks his wrist when a load shifts. His supervisor tells him to "rest for a week" and records nothing. Three weeks later, the wrist needs surgery. Because nothing shows he reported the injury on time, his daily allowance for the early weeks is now at risk.

Report in writing on the day of the injury, by email or WhatsApp to your supervisor and to HR, and keep a copy.

When the employer refuses or delays

Common problems include:

• the employer never registered the worker with GOSI;
• the employer did not report the injury;
• the worker is pressured to treat the injury as a private medical matter;
• the worker is terminated while still under treatment.

If your employer did not register you, Articles 133, 137 and 138 apply to the employer directly. In addition, your employer cannot terminate you because of illness before you have used up the sick leave periods set by the law (Article 82).

The employer escapes liability under Articles 133, 137 and 138 only in narrow cases (Article 139):

• the worker deliberately injured himself;
• the injury resulted from the worker's intentional misconduct;
• the worker refused, without a valid reason, to be examined or treated by the employer's doctor.

Fault and further claims

The Civil Transactions Law provides that any fault that causes harm to another person creates liability for compensation (Article 120). Compensation covers the actual loss and the lost profit that are a natural result of the harmful act (Articles 136 and 137). It also covers moral harm (Article 138).

Whether you can bring a claim beyond your GOSI benefits depends on the facts, including who was at fault and in what capacity. This needs to be assessed case by case.

For employers

• Register every worker for occupational hazards cover.
• Report injuries within GOSI's deadlines.
• Keep incident reports, toolbox-talk records and permit-to-work logs.

If an unregistered worker is injured, the liability falls directly on the company under Articles 133, 137 and 138 of the Labor Law.