Vacation

i think u r wrong sandman...vacation is counted by the working days...i m sure abt it as i have taken many

The rules are funny in KSA (at least I think so).

My HR dept was very helpful in pointing this one out!

The rule in KSA is that if you complete a vacation form for just a few days. Then you have to be careful about public holidays and weekends.

So if you pick Wed to Mon - KSA law states Employers CAN view this as 4 days vacation.

If you pick Wed Only and Mon Only - 2 distinct days - this will be viewed as 2 days vacation.

Please note the use of CAN it is up to the employer, have to admit our HR dept is helpful at this.

Holiday allowance is generous compared to the UK. Im entitled to 40 working days plus 12/16 days at Ramadan and 12/16 days at Hajj season. I work for a Saudi Govt Body.

Thanks SaudiUK,

Yes, it seems that I have landed with the brown, oderous, viscous end of the stick.

It sounds as though your HR department is very good. I won't bore you with the hastles I've had with Iqamas and visas. That's the subject of a future post.

So..... the lesson to all would be expats comming to Saudi is;

Check your Contract AGAIN and AGAIN, then get someone else to check it.

Sandman, you are sooooooooo right!  I was freakin' STUNNED to find out that the 45 days off I was getting as annual leave INCLUDED nonworking days!  That knocks a full three weeks off if you're not careful.

The thing to do is to leave the Wednesday before your vacation begins and be sure to be back by the following Thursday.  That way you're only using 5 days.

But if you're going home for a long holiday, there's no way to avoid using those weekend days as part of your leave. 

Thing that gets me is that if they're going to take your weekends as 'leave time,' you should get PAID for them!

Oh, and this was something never addressed by my HR Dept.  I found out from other employees after I got here and had wasted several vacation days.

Interesting!  Certainly something for folks to think about and look for in their contracts.   Allie, how did your employer handle your last vacation - as stated above or as work days?

The weekend days that fell within my vacation were counted as vacation days

Speaking of vacations, we just went to Jordan last week and visited the historic town of Petra and the Dead Sea.  We stayed in Amman and traveled to both places from there.  Petra was a three hour ride but it was just amazing!  We were in awe all day long...  The city is huge and every where we turned there was something more exciting to see.  It makes you wonder who were these people with such talents to build these huge, ornate structures that still stand today?  Where did they get that knowledge?

The Dead Sea was wonderful too!  Its quite an experience to get in the water and not sink..  You just boob around like a top.  Most of the bathers were mudding up before they went in - they say the mud & water are medicinal!  It was such a beautiful area with the Mountains of Israel on the other side.  So quite and serene.  I wonder if it was much different 2000 years ago?

I would recommend the trip to everyone.  The cost to get to/from Petra by bus (I believe) is  only 9 JOD; by private car its about 115JOD.  The Dead Sea was 20JOD each way by taxi and they will stay with you for 2hrs.  For the Petra trip the car/bus will stay with your for 3/4hrs.

I have a bunch of pics to share but need to figure out how to get them posted.  Im not IT savvy, so this is a chore for me!