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.