Annual leaves are granted in accordance with the Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relationships, the ‘UAE Labour Law’.

Employees are entitled to a fully paid annual leave of 30 days, if they have completed one year of service and if the period of service exceeds six months but is less than one year, the employee is entitled to 2 days of leave for each month of service.

If the employee’s service ends before using their annual leave, they are entitled to leave for the fraction of the last year worked.

Part-time employees are entitled to annual leave according to the actual working hours they spent at work, as specified in the employment contract, and in accordance with the ‘Implementing Regulations of the Labour Law’ - available in Arabic only (PDF, 10.9 MB).

General provisions regarding annual leaves

• Employees must use their leaves in the year they are due. The employer may set the dates of leave according to work requirements, in agreement with the employee, or may grant leave in rotation among employees to ensure business continuity. Employers must notify the employee of the leave dates at least one month in advance.
• The employee may, with the consent of the employer, and in accordance with company’s regulations, carry over unused annual leaves (or part of it) to the following year. In this case, the employee will be entitled to payment for the unused days, calculated on the basis of his/her basic salary.
• The employer may not prevent the employee from using his/her accrued annual leave for more than two consecutive years, unless the employee chooses to carry it over or opts to receive cash compensation, in accordance with the company’s policies and the Implementing Regulations of the Labour Law.
• Public holidays or agreed leave days that fall within the annual leave period are considered part of the annual leave, unless the employment contract or company policies provide more favourable terms for the employee.
• If an employee terminates his/her employment before taking his/her leave, he/she is entitled to payment for any unused annual leave, regardless of its duration. He/she is also entitled to payment for leave accrued for part of the year, calculated on the basis of his/her basic salary.

According to the UAE Labour Law for the private sector, employees of the private sector are entitled to at least one day of paid rest per week as specified in the employment contract or the company’s work regulations. Companies may grant additional rest days at their discretion. Additionally, employees are entitled to a paid leave on public holidays observed in the country.

Working during official holidays or leave days

If an employee is required to work during holidays or leaves, he will be compensated with another rest day or be paid for that day, a wage as he would be paid on a normal day plus an addition of at least 50 per cent on his basic wage. (Reference: Article 28 of the UAE Labour Law).

Related links:

• Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations in the Private Sector, as amended - MoHRE (1.3 MB, PDF)
• Working hours and over time - U.ae

A female worker is entitled to a maternity leave of 60 days, out of which:

• 45 days will be fully-paid leave
• 15 days will be half-paid leave.

A female worker may apply for her maternity leave up to 30 days prior to the expected date of delivery.

In addition to the basic maternity leave above, she may take additional 45 without pay, if she has an illness as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, and is unable to resume work. The illness must be proved via a medical certificate issued from the respective medical authority. These leave days can be consecutive or intermittent.

If the baby is sick or suffers from a disability, the female worker may take additional leaves of 30 days fully-paid. This leave can be extended for additional 30 days without pay. The illness or the disability of the child must be proved via a medical certificate issued from the respective medical authority.

After the female worker resumes work, she is entitled to one or two additional breaks each day for nursing her child. The duration of the two breaks must not exceed one hour. The woman is entitled to such breaks for 6 months following the date of delivery. Such breaks are fully paid for.

Read more provisions about maternity leave under Article 30 of the Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations in the Private Sector, the ‘UAE Labour Law’.

Employees of the private sector are entitled to a parental leave of 5 working days from the day of the birth of their child to six months. The parental leave is a paid leave that can be applied for by both mother and father of the baby.

It was introduced after the late H. H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the then President of the UAE, approved the amendments to the Labour Law in August 2020.

The UAE is the first Arab country to grant parental leave to employees in the private sector.

Read news coverage on WAM.

As per the 'UAE Labour Law', Emiratis working in the private sector are entitled to be paid while they are on leave from work to perform national service.

An employee who is studying in one of the UAE’s accredited educational institutions is entitled to a paid leave of 10 working days per year to sit for examinations, provided that they have completed at least two years of service with their employer.

Under the UAE Labour Law, employees may be granted a special leave for the performance of Hajj, subject to the following provisions:

• the leave is unpaid
•  it may not exceed 30 days
• it is granted only once during the period of employment with the same employer.

The UAE Labour Law does not provide specific provisions for Umrah leave. If the employee requests leave for Umrah, the employer has the discretion to approve, deduct it from the employee’s annual leave balance, or grant it as unpaid leave.

An employee is entitled to a sick leave of not more than 90 days, whether continuous or intermittent, per year of service, after completing the probationary period. Sick leave is calculated as follows:

• full pay for the first 15 days
• half pay for the next 30 days
• no pay for the remaining 45 days.

Although a worker is not entitled to paid sick leave during the probationary period, the employer may grant unpaid sick leave during this time, based on a medical report issued by a recognised medical authority indicating the necessity of such leave.

Note: The sick leave term here refers to cases with sickness not caused by occupational injuries or hazards, as these are subject to their own laws and provisions.

The employee is ineligible for a paid sick leave in the following cases:

• during the probation period
• if the illness directly arises from the misconduct of the worker, such as the consumption of alcohol or narcotics
• if the worker violated the safety instructions in accordance with the applicable legislations in the UAE, and the rules set out in the firm's regulations, which the employee was informed of.

According to Article 31 of the UAE Labour Law, the employee must notify the employer about his sickness within maximum three days and submit a medical report on his condition, issued by the medical entity.

An employer may not dismiss an employee or give him a termination notice while the employee is on sick leave. If the employee uses all of his 90 days’ sick leave and has not been able to report to work afterwards, the employer may terminate his services. In such a case, the employee shall be entitled to the end of service benefits in accordance with the provisions of the labour law.

Read more on sick leave as per UAE Labour Law and its Executive Regulations.

A private sector employee is entitled to a paid compassionate/bereavement leave as follows:

• 5 days in the event of the death of a spouse
•  3 days in the event of the death of a parent, child, sibling, grandchild or grandparent.

 The leave entitlement begins from the date of death.

Find more information relating to leaves in Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 regarding the Regulation of Employment Relationships ‘The UAE Labour Law’(PDF, 2.63 MB).