Bahrain, officially known as the “Kingdom of Bahrain” is an island country located in the Persian Gulf. It comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and 33 artificial islands, centered around Bahrain Island which makes up ~83% of the country's landmass. Bahrain has the fastest-growing economy in the Arab world and wants to encourage technological innovation within the country.

Bahrain does not have a minimum wage, so pay rates must be agreed upon with the employer through either collective bargaining or another means of negotiating a fair living wage.

The standard working hours in Bahrain are 8 hours per day and 40 hours per week. However, during Ramadan, Muslim workers may not work more than 6 hours per day or 36 hours per week. The work week in Bahrain goes from Sunday-Thursday with 2 days off on Friday and Saturday.

Employees who work overtime will receive 125% of their wage for each additional hour worked past 8 in one day, and at least 150% for hours worked during the night.

Parental Leave

Pregnant employees in Bahrain receive 75 days of maternity leave — the first 60 days are paid while the last 15 days are unpaid. After giving birth, women in Bahrain are not allowed to work for at least 40 days after the birth of their child. Fathers to newborns receive 1 day of paid leave upon the birth of their child.

Sick Leave

Employees in Bahrain can receive 55 days of sick leave. The first 15 days are fully paid, for days 16-35 the employee receives 50% pay, and days 36-55 are unpaid.

Paid Leave

Employees receive 14 days of paid leave for public holidays. After at least one year of service with a company, employees are entitled to 30 days of annual leave. Before finishing one year at the company, employees can accrue 2.5 days of paid leave per month.

Employees can also take 3 days of paid leave for marriage, and Muslim employees are eligible to take 14 days paid leave for a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their career, providing they have worked for the same company for at least 5 years.

Process

Employers need to have sufficient grounds for termination and provide a notice period if wanting to terminate an employee contract.

Notice Period

Either party (employer or employee) can terminate the contract, as long as they give 30 days notice. The employer also has the option to give payment in lieu of notice.

Severance Pay

Employees who have fixed-term contracts are usually entitled to receive the full pay that they would have received for the whole contracted period.

Employees with indefinite contracts who are terminated after 3 months are usually entitled to 2 days of pay for each month served at the company, with a minimum of 1 month and a maximum of 12 months of pay (regardless of whether the termination was of just cause).

Severance pay will depend on the employee's length of service:

• 3 months-3 years: 15 days of salary per year worked
• 4+ years: 30 days of salary per year worked

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