Employee exit clearance: 4 steps

Exit clearance means confirming, before someone leaves, that assets, access, open work and money are all back with the business. Start it the day notice arrives, not on the last day: Article 88 of the Saudi Labor Law (Arabic) requires you to pay their wage and settle their dues within one week of the relationship ending, or two weeks if they ended the contract. Four steps cover it: assets, access, open work, settlement.

This is the other side of handing a role to a new employee: what you recorded when they joined is what you collect when they leave.

Why a paper form signed by managers is not enough

• A signature does not prove a return: a manager ticks "done" without knowing the employee took a second card terminal six months ago.
• Access outlives the person: a cashier code or approval right keeps working until someone notices. The cashier refund fraud lesson shows what a code in the wrong hands can do.
• Open work gets lost: an order they promised a customer, or an approval waiting on them, appears on no form.

The four steps

1. Collect assets from the record, not from memory

List everything registered to the employee: device, keys, access card, SIM, cash float. Each item closes with a recorded receipt naming who received it. A float is settled with receipts or returned cash; see the petty cash guide.

2. Revoke access on the last working day, not after

At the end of their last shift, disable their code, withdraw approval rights and remove their number from work groups. Any approval right moves to a named substitute first, so the approval chain never stops. Their history stays recorded.

3. Reassign open work to a named person

List everything open under their name: customer orders, collections, pending approvals, tasks. Move each to a named employee, who is notified. The customer never hears "the person you spoke to has left".

4. Settle the account on the legal deadline

Add up what they are owed: wage to the last day, leave balance, end-of-service award. Then what they owe because of the work: an unpaid advance or an unreturned float. The same Article 88 lets the employer deduct any work-related debt owed to it from the amounts due to the worker. Do not hold the settlement because clearance is unfinished. Have your accountant check the award calculation.

Article 64 requires you, when the contract ends and at their request, to give a free service certificate stating their start date, end date, occupation and last wage, and to return all certificates or documents they deposited with you.

Clearance as one exchange

An Al-Malqa cashier resigned; their last day is Thursday:

Owner: prepare exit clearance for the Al-Malqa cashier, last day Thursday

System: Registered to them: a card terminal, the drawer key, and a 500 SAR cash float, 320 of it backed by receipts. Open under their name: two undelivered customer orders and one refund approval waiting. Access: cashier code, and refund approval up to 100 SAR.

Owner: orders and the approval go to the branch supervisor

System: Moved both orders and the refund approval to the supervisor and notified them. I will disable the code and approval right on Thursday after their shift closes.

On Thursday, after close:

Supervisor: received the terminal and key, and 180 SAR returned from the float

System: Closed all three items under your name at 10:15 pm, and disabled the code and approval right. Nothing is open under their name. The final settlement is ready for review; it is due within two weeks of today because they resigned.

Exit clearance checklist

Item	When	Evidence
Physical assets	Before or on the last day	Receipt recorded with receiver's name
Cash float	Last day	Receipts or returned cash
Access and codes	End of last shift	Time-stamped revocation
Open work	From notice day	Each item under a substitute
Final settlement	One week, or two if they resigned	Statement of what is owed each way
Service certificate and documents	On request	Copy kept on file

A common mistake: holding pay until clearance is done

Withholding pay until the employee is "fully cleared" misses the deadline and puts you in breach. Start clearance early, deduct proven work-related debt, and pay the rest on time. More on running the business from chat in WhatsApp ERP.