My employer does not pay my salary. When may I leave work and keep my rights under Article 81 of the Labour Law?

Article 81 of the Labour Law lets a worker leave work without notice and keep all his legal rights in 7 cases. The first is when the employer does not meet his essential duties toward the worker under the contract or the law.

Steps

1. Paying the wage is one of the employer's duties: a monthly-paid worker is paid once a month, into his account through banks approved in Saudi Arabia (Article 90).
2. The employer may not hold back your wage or part of it without a judicial basis (Article 61).
3. The first case in Article 81: the employer does not meet his essential duties toward you under the contract or the law. The article does not name a number of months.
4. Other cases: the employer or his representative deceived you, when the contract was made, about the terms and conditions of work; or he made you do work essentially different from what was agreed, without your consent, against Article 60.
5. Or violent assault or indecent behaviour toward you or a member of your family, by the employer, a member of his family or the manager in charge; or treatment by the employer or the manager in charge marked by cruelty and injustice, or by insult.
6. Or a serious danger at the workplace to your safety or health that the employer knew of and did nothing to remove; or the employer, by unfair treatment or by breaking the contract terms, pushed you so that you appear to be the one who ended the contract.
7. For a non-Saudi worker: under the Executive Regulations, the Minister or his delegate may approve moving his services to another employer without the employer's consent if his wages were not paid for 3 months in a row or were late past the third month's due date, if he did not cause or contribute to it, on his request within one Hijri year from the third month's due date.
8. If you and your employer disagree about your wage or these cases, file a free “amicable settlement” request on the Ministry's e-services portal: choose “Amicable Settlement”, then “File a case”, choose the case topic, and attach your contract and papers.
9. Attend the session on time. If there is no settlement, a record is issued, and then you can file a case at the labour court.