Quick answer: don’t sign a final settlement you haven’t verified. Check that your contract type, start date and wage on Qiwa match reality, recalculate the benefit on your actual wage (basic + regular allowances), confirm every component — benefit, leave days, last salary, deductions — and raise discrepancies in writing before your exit paperwork is completed.
Why Qiwa matters
Qiwa is the Ministry of Human Resources’ platform where employment contracts in the private sector are registered. What is recorded there — contract type, start date, wage and its breakdown — is the official baseline in any dispute. If your real salary is 12,000 SAR but the registered wage says 8,000, your settlement will quietly be computed on the smaller number.
Check these fields in your Qiwa employment record:
- Contract type — open-ended or fixed-term: it changes which rules apply (see fixed-term contracts);
- Start date — your service length is counted from it;
- Wage and its breakdown — basic plus allowances should match your payslips;
- Contract status after you leave — the end reason recorded affects your entitlements.
Fix mismatches while still employed if you can; corrections are much harder after the exit.
Recalculate the benefit yourself
- Work out your actual wage: basic + regular monthly allowances such as housing and transport (what counts).
- Count your service from start date to last working day — the calculator’s dates mode counts the exact days.
- Pick how the job ended: employer termination, expiry, resignation (your share depends on service — see the thresholds), or a special case.
- Keep the calculator’s breakdown: benefit, share applied, leave pay and any Article 77 compensation, as your reference figure.
The settlement is more than the benefit
Compare the employer’s sheet line by line against this checklist:
| Component | What to verify |
|---|---|
| End-of-service benefit | Computed on the actual wage, correct service length and correct share |
| Unused annual leave | Days × (monthly wage ÷ 30) — check the day balance itself too |
| Final salary | Days worked in the last month, plus any overtime due |
| Commissions and dues | Anything earned but not yet paid under your contract |
| Notice period | Worked, paid in lieu, or properly waived |
| Deductions | Only lawful ones: documented loans or advances, not vague “costs” |
An employer deducting “recruitment costs”, “visa fees” or similar from a settlement is a red flag — most such charges are the employer’s to bear by law.
If the numbers don’t match
- Ask for the settlement in writing, itemized — a single total is not verifiable.
- Reply in writing with your own calculation attached (print the calculator’s breakdown as a PDF).
- Many gaps are honest mistakes — the basic-wage-only error is the most common — and get fixed at this stage.
- If not resolved, file through the Ministry’s amicable settlement channel; unresolved cases proceed to the labor courts. Mind the time limits — labor claims expire, so act within months, not years.
- Signing a receipt usually acknowledges what you received; take advice before signing anything worded as a final waiver of further claims while a dispute is open.
Leaving the country?
For expatriates, get the settlement cleared before the final exit visa is processed: pursuing a claim from abroad is possible through a representative but far harder. Keep copies of your contract, Qiwa record, payslips and the settlement sheet outside your work email — access ends the day you leave.
The rules behind every number here, with 20 worked examples, are on the How we calculate page.