Annual Leave Rights UAE

Annual leave rights UAE workers hold rest on clear legal foundations. The law protects these rights firmly. Therefore, no employment contract can reduce them below the statutory minimum. Perhaps your employer is refusing to grant your leave or denying encashment of accrued leave. Perhaps they are handling leave in a way that breaks the law. In every such case, you hold enforceable legal rights.

Perhaps you are a new employee trying to understand your entitlements. Or perhaps you are a long-serving worker, and your employer has mishandled your leave. Either way, this guide explains exactly where you stand and what steps you can take. Knowing your Annual Leave Rights UAE law grants is the first step. Ultimately, it helps you act with confidence.

Statutory Annual Leave Entitlement Under UAE Labour Law

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, which governs private sector employment across the UAE, employees are entitled to annual leave as follows:

Employees who have completed 6 months but less than 1 year of service: leave accrues on a pro-rata basis. The rate is 2 calendar days per month of completed service.

Employees who have completed 1 full year of service: A minimum of 30 calendar days’ paid annual leave per year.

This 30-day entitlement is the legal minimum — the floor, not the ceiling. Furthermore, many employment contracts provide more generous leave arrangements. Wherever the contractual entitlement exceeds the statutory minimum, the higher figure applies. Importantly, your employer cannot offer you less than 30 days per year regardless of what your contract states. Indeed, any clause attempting to do so is unenforceable under UAE law.

It is also worth noting that UAE law calculates the 30-day entitlement in calendar days, not working days. Specifically, weekends and public holidays that fall within your leave period count as part of your leave. This distinction often surprises employees. After all, many employees expect the working-day calculations that other countries apply.

How Annual Leave Rights UAE Accrue

Annual leave begins accruing from your very first day of employment at a rate of 2.5 calendar days per month, which totals 30 days over a full year. Moreover, this accrual runs continuously from your start date. As a result, even before your one-year anniversary, you are building up a leave balance. The law entitles you to access that balance or claim payment for it.

Generally, the law permits employers to require six months of continuous service first. Only then can employees take their accrued leave. However, this does not mean the leave disappears during those first six months. It simply means the employer can defer when you actually take the leave. Suppose your employment ends before you have had the chance to take any accrued leave. In that case, your employer must pay out every day you have accumulated. This includes the days you earned during the initial six-month period.

Leave Pay — What Should You Be Paid?

Employers must pay annual leave at the employee’s full basic salary rate plus all regular allowances. Notably, an employer cannot pay you at a reduced rate while you are on annual leave. Indeed, the law is explicit on this point: leave pay must reflect the full package of remuneration you ordinarily receive.
In practice, you calculate the daily leave pay by dividing your total monthly salary (including allowances) by 30. Subsequently, this daily rate is then multiplied by the number of leave days you take or wish to encash. Some employers pay only basic salary during annual leave, excluding housing, transport, or other standard allowances. This practice amounts to underpayment. As a result, the employer bears liability for the shortfall.

Can Your Employer Refuse Your Annual Leave Rights UAE?

Employers do have the right to manage the timing of annual leave based on genuine operational requirements. For example, a business may legitimately ask you to postpone leave during a particularly busy period or to coordinate leave across a team. However, the law is clear that an employer cannot permanently deny leave entitlement or repeatedly defer it without limit.

The law also requires the employer to grant accrued annual leave within the leave year. Alternatively, the parties may carry it forward by agreement.

Under no circumstances can an employer unilaterally cancel or forfeit accrued leave simply because it was not taken within a particular period. Instead, the employer must encash any leave it fails to grant.

Suppose your employer has consistently refused to grant you leave, and your employment then ends. Whether through resignation, redundancy, or termination, the employer must pay out all accrued unused leave in full at the daily rate. Refusing to include this in your final settlement is a recoverable underpayment.

Leave Encashment — Getting Paid for Unused Leave

When your employment ends for any reason, your employer must pay all accrued but untaken annual leave to you in cash as part of your final settlement. This applies regardless of whether you resigned or your employer terminated or made you redundant. Leave encashment is a standalone entitlement, and the law calculates it separately from and in addition to your end of service gratuity.

The calculation is straightforward: divide your full monthly salary (including all regular allowances) by 30 to get the daily rate, then multiply by the total number of accrued but untaken leave days. Employers who fail to include this in their final settlement are in breach of UAE labour law, and employees can file a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) to recover the shortfall.

Public Holidays in UAE

In addition to annual leave, all private sector employees are entitled to paid time off on official UAE public holidays as declared by the government each year. These holidays are separate from and in addition to your annual leave entitlement — they do not count against your leave balance.
If your employer requires you to work on a public holiday, you are entitled to one of the following:

• A substitute day off at an agreed later date, or
• An additional day’s pay at double your normal daily rate

Employees who regularly work on public holidays without receiving either alternative should document this carefully, as the compensation is fully recoverable through MOHRE or the courts.

Annual Leave During Sick Leave or Maternity Leave

Annual leave continues to accrue throughout any period of sick leave — up to the statutory maximum of 90 days per year — and throughout maternity leave. An employer cannot reduce your annual leave balance or deny accrual simply because you were absent on certified sick leave or statutory maternity leave. UAE law treats both types of protected absence as periods of continuous service for the purpose of leave accrual.

Special Leave Entitlements Under UAE Labour Law

Beyond standard annual leave, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 provides for a range of additional statutory leave entitlements that employers must honour:

• Maternity leave: 60 calendar days — the first 45 days at full pay and the following 15 days at half pay.
• Paternity leave: 5 working days of paid leave, to be taken within 6 months of the child’s birth.
• Bereavement leave: 5 days paid leave for the death of a spouse or child; 3 days for the death of a parent, sibling, or grandparent.
  Study leave: 10 days per year for employees enrolled in UAE-accredited educational institutions, available after completing at least 2 years of service with the employer.
• Pilgrimage leave (Hajj): 30 days of unpaid leave granted once during the entire course of employment for Muslim employees wishing to perform Hajj.

These entitlements exist independently of annual leave, and no employer can deduct them from or set them off against it.

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