Ending an employment contract in Qatar: notice, probation and dismissal

What the law actually governs

Ending an employment relationship in Qatar is not one rule but four, and they answer different questions: how much notice is owed, what may be done during probation, when an employer may dismiss without notice and without gratuity, and when a worker may leave and still keep the gratuity in full. All four sit in Law No. 14 of 2004, and three of them were rewritten by Decree-Law No. 18 of 2020.

The article numbers matter more than they look. A dismissal letter that cites the wrong limb of the wrong article is the first thing an employee's representative reads, and the first thing a dispute committee asks about.

Notice: Article 49

After probation ends — or where the contract stipulated none — either party may end the contract without giving reasons, provided they notify the other side in writing. The length of that notice depends only on how long the person has worked:

If a contract is ended without observing those periods, the party who ended it owes the other compensation equal to the worker's basic wage for the notice period, or for whatever is left of it. The figure is the basic wage, not the total package.

Probation: Article 39

Probation is the part most often got wrong, because the 2020 amendment changed who may end it and on what terms:

• It must be agreed in the contract and may not exceed six months from the day work starts.
• A worker may not be placed on probation more than once with the same employer.
• The employer may end the contract during probation for unfitness, on at least one month's written notice.
• A worker moving to another employer must give at least one month's written notice, and the new employer compensates the old one for the air ticket and recruitment fees, capped at two months' basic wage.
• A worker leaving the country gives the notice agreed in the contract, which may not exceed two months.

Failing to observe any of those notice periods carries the same consequence as under Article 49: the basic wage for the period, or for what remains of it.

Dismissal without notice or gratuity: Article 61

An employer may dismiss without notice and without paying end-of-service gratuity only in the ten cases the article lists, and in no others:

• Impersonating another person, claiming a nationality that is not theirs, or producing forged documents or certificates.
• Committing an error causing serious material loss, provided the employer reports it to the Department by the end of the next working day.
• Breaching written safety instructions more than once after a written warning, where those instructions are posted in a visible place.
• Breaching an essential contractual or legal obligation more than once after a written warning.
• Disclosing the establishment's secrets.
• Being found drunk or under the influence of a drug during working hours.
• Assaulting the employer, the manager or a superior during work or because of it.
• Repeatedly assaulting colleagues at work despite a written warning.
• Absence without lawful cause for more than seven consecutive days, or fifteen intermittent days within the year.
• A final conviction for a crime touching honour or trust.

When a worker leaves and keeps the gratuity: Article 51

As amended in 2020, a worker may end the contract early — with no notice where it is open-ended — and keep the full end-of-service gratuity in five cases:

• The employer breached an obligation under the contract or under the law.
• The employer or the responsible manager assaulted the worker, or a member of their family, physically or indecently.
• The employer or their representative deceived the worker about the terms of work at the time of contracting.
• A serious danger threatened the worker's safety or health and the employer knew of it and did not remove it.
• A labour dispute resolution committee issued a final decision in the worker's favour.

Redundancy is a separate obligation

Article 52-bis, added in 2020, applies where a contract is ended for economic or structural reasons rather than for anything to do with the worker. The employer must notify the Ministry at least fifteen days before the termination date, with a written statement of the reasons, the number of workers likely to be affected and their categories. The notice periods above still apply on top of it.

What this means for the file

Every one of these rules is proved from records, not from recollection, and the records are the ones an office is already supposed to hold:

1. 1The start date, because it decides whether the notice is one month or two.
2. 2The written notice itself, dated, because an undated notice cannot show that the period was observed.
3. 3The written warnings, because four of the ten grounds in Article 61 require one and none of them can be proved after the fact.
4. 4The written investigation, because Article 62 requires it before any penalty at all.