If you work in a home in Qatar, as a maid, nanny, cook or driver, the law promises you a leaving payment when your service ends: end-of-service gratuity. It is not a favour and it is not a bonus your employer chooses to give. It is a legal entitlement under the domestic workers law, and this guide is written for you, the worker, so you can calculate what you are owed to the riyal and claim it properly. If you are an employer reading this, the same numbers tell you what to budget; our employer-side pieces are linked throughout.
One thing makes Qatar different from its neighbours: the formula. The UAE and Saudi Arabia calculate domestic-worker end of service in entirely different ways, so ignore any calculator or article that mixes the three markets. The Qatari rule comes from Article 15 of Law 15 of 2017, explained in full here, and it is one of the clearest in the region.
The formula, in one line
At least three weeks' pay for every year of service. To turn that into riyals: divide your monthly wage by 30 to get your daily rate, multiply by 21 days, then multiply by your years of service.
Gratuity = (monthly wage ÷ 30) × 21 × years of service. The law sets this as a minimum: your contract can promise more, but nothing agreed anywhere can make it less.
One honest nuance: the law's text says three weeks' "pay", and in practice the calculation is done on the basic wage, the fixed monthly figure in your contract, not counting allowances like the food allowance. If your contract shows one combined number, that number is your basis.
Do you qualify?
- One full year of service first. The entitlement starts once you have completed one year with the employer. Before that mark, the law does not require a gratuity.
- After the first year, fractions count. Service beyond full years is paid proportionately: three and a half years means three and a half years' worth, not three.
- It does not matter who ends the contract. Resignation at the end of your contract, non-renewal, or termination: the service you completed is the service you are paid for. Deductions are the only lawful reduction (below).
Hourly and part-time workers: your employer is the company
If you work through a licensed service company, cleaning or babysitting by the hour in different homes, your legal employer is the company that sponsors you, not the families you visit. Your gratuity therefore accrues against the company, on your contract with it, under the same three-weeks-per-year floor. The families pay the company for hours; they owe you nothing directly, and the company cannot point at them when your end-of-service comes due. The one-year condition and the pro-rata rule apply exactly the same way.
What it looks like in riyals
Worked examples at common wage levels, using the minimum three-week formula:
| Monthly wage (QAR) | 2 years | 3 years | 5 years | 8 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 (legal minimum) | 1,400 | 2,100 | 3,500 | 5,600 |
| 1,500 | 2,100 | 3,150 | 5,250 | 8,400 |
| 2,000 | 2,800 | 4,200 | 7,000 | 11,200 |
| 2,800 | 3,920 | 5,880 | 9,800 | 15,680 |
The daily rate math for one row, so you can do yours: at QAR 1,500, the daily rate is 1,500 ÷ 30 = 50; one year is 50 × 21 = 1,050; three years is 3,150. Where your wage sits against the market, and what other workers in your role earn, is in the salaries-by-nationality guide and the live Salary Index.
What your employer may deduct, and what they may not
The law allows the employer to deduct from the gratuity amounts you genuinely owe them: a documented salary advance or loan, for example. Two things can never be deducted, because they were never yours to owe. Recruitment fees and agency costs are the employer's by law, full stop. And "costs of your replacement" or "breakage" claims without documentation are not debts; if an employer asserts them, ask for the paperwork and do not sign anything that converts a claim into your signature.
When it must be paid
At the end of service, with your final wage settlement, not "after your flight" and not "when the new maid arrives". If you are leaving Qatar for good, insist on settlement before the exit; collecting from abroad is far harder. If you are moving to a new employer through a sponsorship transfer, the service with your old employer ends and its gratuity is settled then; your count restarts with the new family. The mechanics of ending and transferring are in the sponsorship transfer and cancellation guide.
Qatar next to its neighbours
Worth knowing if you have worked elsewhere in the Gulf, because the three systems are genuinely different. Qatar: three weeks per year, from one year of service. Saudi Arabia's domestic regulation: one month's wage per four consecutive years. The UAE: set by Cabinet decision under the 2022 law, commonly applied at around two weeks per year. Same job, three different formulas; never let anyone calculate your Qatari entitlement with a foreign rule.
Also working under the general labour law? Same three weeks
If you are comparing notes with friends in company jobs: private-sector workers under Qatar's general Labour Law (14 of 2004) also receive a minimum of three weeks' basic wage per year. The difference is not the formula but the law that grants it, and the dispute channels. This article is about household workers under Law 15 of 2017; a company worker's route runs through the same ministry but different committees.
If it goes unpaid: your steps, in order
- Ask directly, and put a number on it. Show the calculation; many underpayments are ignorance, not malice.
- Ask in writing (a message counts). A dated record of the request matters later.
- Gather your evidence: the contract, wage records or transfer receipts, and your QID showing the service period.
- File a complaint with the Ministry of Labour. Labour complaints for domestic workers run through the ministry's channels, and unpaid end-of-service is squarely a labour matter.
- Do not surrender your documents or sign a final receipt for money you have not received, whatever is promised verbally.
If the situation around the dispute is bigger than money, a withheld passport, threats, or wages stopped entirely, do not wait on a wage complaint: passport confiscation is illegal, and these cases belong with the Ministry of Labour directly, or with the police on 999 if you are in immediate danger.
Three questions that come up in every settlement
If your wage changed during service, the common practice is to calculate on your wage at the end of service; if yours rose mid-way, raise the point explicitly in the settlement conversation rather than assuming. Unpaid absence periods can be excluded from the service count, so long stretches away matter. And part months at the end count inside the pro-rata fraction, not as a rounding down.
The gratuity is one line, not the whole settlement
End of service is a package, and workers routinely collect the gratuity while forgetting the rest. Your final settlement should cover, separately: any unpaid or partial wages, payment for annual leave you earned but did not take, the return ticket home where the law and your contract place it on the employer, and the gratuity itself. Ask for the settlement as a written list with a number next to each line; a single round figure is where entitlements quietly disappear.
Keep your own record from day one
Every dispute gets short when the paper is ready. From your first month, keep: a copy of your contract, a photo of every wage receipt or transfer confirmation, your QID and its renewal dates, and any message where dates or money are mentioned. Store them in your own phone and email, not on a device someone else controls. If wages were paid in cash without receipts, start asking for a simple signed note with each payment now; the habit protects both sides.
For employers: budget it monthly, not at the airport
The three-week formula accrues at about 1.75 days' wage per month of service (21 days over 12 months). On a QAR 1,500 wage that is roughly QAR 87 a month. Set it aside as it accrues and the settlement at the end of a five-year relationship is money already saved, not an unwelcome surprise; it also makes the written settlement list above painless to produce.
Common mistakes that cost workers money
- Believing the "no gratuity for resignation" line. Completed service is owed regardless of who ends the contract.
- Accepting a foreign formula. UAE and Saudi rules produce different, often smaller, numbers. Qatar's three weeks per year is the floor here.
- Letting "we'll settle later" ride until the flight. Settlement belongs with the final wage, before any exit.
- Signing a full-and-final receipt early. A signed receipt for unpaid money is the hardest evidence to argue with, in the wrong direction.
- Forgetting the fractions. Four years and seven months is paid as four years and seven months, not four.
The bottom line
Three weeks' pay per year, from one completed year, pro-rata for fractions, minus only documented debts, settled with your final wage. That is the whole law in one sentence, and now you can calculate it yourself, which is exactly the position the law wants you negotiating from when your service ends. For a quick check on your numbers use the gratuity calculator, and for what your next contract should pay, browse the pay and retention guide.
