When a deduction from your wage is lawful in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
A deduction needs a reason in the statute, and a cap. In Saudi Arabia an employer loan cannot take more than 10% of the wage, damage cannot take more than five days of wage in a month, and the total cannot pass half the wage except by a court.
A payslip that is short, with no sentence explaining why, is not “an accounting adjustment”. The deduction is either inside a case the law allows, or it is a cut you need returned. Wage protection shows the figure. It does not invent the reason. The monthly reading is in the Mudad file guide.
Saudi Arabia
Article 92 forbids deducting private claims from the wage without your written consent, except in listed cases. Among them: repayment of a loan the employer made, provided the deduction does not exceed 10% of the wage; contributions the law requires; fines; compensation for damage; and a debt collected under a court judgment, provided the monthly deduction does not exceed a quarter of the wage unless the judgment says otherwise.
Article 91: if by your own fault, and not by a third party’s fault or force majeure, you damage machinery or products in your custody, a deduction is allowed up to five days’ wage a month. You can take the allegation, or the estimate of the damage, to the labour court. A “damage” deduction larger than that, with no judgment, goes past the text.
Article 93: deductions may not, in any case, exceed half the wage due, unless the labour court decides otherwise. Several small lines that together eat more than half are a breach even if each line on its own would have been acceptable.
Iqama, visa and recruitment fees are not on this list. Putting them on the worker runs into Article 40. Deducting them as a “loan” and then refusing to stop is a way of selling again what already sits with the establishment. The fees guide.
The UAE
Article 25 of Decree-Law 33 of 2021 is the list of cases in which the wage may be deducted: an amount you owe as the decree and its regulation define it, such as loan instalments, a contribution the law requires, a fine for a violation, compensation for damage the worker caused, or execution of a judgment. The executive regulation sets the monthly percentage. A line called “miscellaneous”, “visa fees” or “job security” is not one of those cases. Recruitment costs sit with the employer under Article 6, not as a cut from the first wage.
What to keep
- A slip that shows the amount and the name of the line.
- If you are told the deduction is a loan: the original loan, what remains, and that the instalment is inside the Saudi 10%.
- A message asking for the lines, if the wage arrived short with no paper.
A month in which the difference is not returned is a month to complain about, not a month to forget. The steps are in the unpaid-wages guide. This explains the articles. It is not a ruling on one deduction. Read the article on the ministry site or the legislation portal if the amount is large enough that you would build a complaint on it.
A day’s absence is not a fine, and housing is not a deduction
A day you did not work, without an excuse, has its wage withheld because the wage is for work. That is not the same as a disciplinary fine, which needs a stated violation and a procedure. Deducting the day’s wage and then another fine the same day for “lack of discipline” can pile two cuts on one event. Ask for the name of each line.
Housing the employer owes in Saudi Arabia under Article 61, or that was promised in the contract, does not turn into a monthly deduction from the wage after you move into the rooms. If “bed rent” is taken from a salary that was supposed to include housing or the allowance, the photo of the payslip is the deduction, and the article is in the housing guide. In the UAE the housing allowance sits outside the end-of-service gratuity, but deducting it from the basic wage you were promised is still a change to the contract, not an automatic right.
Sources
Rules and fees change and differ by country and employer. Always check with the official authorities before paying or signing anything.