Holidays

• • 1st January – New Year’s Day
  • 22nd May – Eid al-Fitr (two days off work)
  • 30th July – Afrah Day
  • 31st July – Eid Al Adha
  • 23rd August – Hijri New Year
  • 29th October – Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday
  • 1st December – Commemoration Day
  • 2nd December – National Day

  Employees are entitled to fully – paid leave during the official holidays.

Accruals

PTO (Paid Time Off)

• Vacation/Annual Paid Leave

Employees are entitled to an annual leave of two days per month if they have completed six months of service, but not one year, and 30 days, if they have completed one year of service.

Employers are required to pay employee’s salaries for annual leave before it is taken. 

The employer is entitled to determine the date of the commencement of the annual leave and may divide it, if necessary, into two or more periods. 

• Rollovers and payout of unused hours

• Use-it-or-lose-it policy 

Employees are allowed to carry forward unused days of the annual leave. 

• PTO payout at the termination

Employees are entitled to receive the salary for any unused annual leave at the termination.

Maternity Leave, Child Raising Leave, Parental Leave

Maternity Leave

Employees who have completed one year of consecutive service are entitled to fully-paid leave up to 45 calendar days. Employees who haven’t completed one year of consecutive service are entitled to up to 45 calendar days of leave at half pay. Leave can be taken before and after the delivery.

After the paid maternity leave is over, employees can take up to 100 days of unpaid leave due to a medical condition related to pregnancy or delivery. Employees are required to provide a medical certificate to state these conditions. 

If the employee has a pregnancy-related medical condition, she is entitled to take sick leave instead of maternity leave. The employee must provide a medical certificate. 

Sick Leave

Employees who have completed at least 3 consecutive months of service after the probation period are entitled to sick leave not exceeding 90 days per year.

• The first 15 days of leave fully-paid
• The following 30 days with half-pay
• The following period without pay

After an employee has exceeded the 90-day period, the employer is allowed to terminate employment and the employee will be entitled to receive a gratuity.

Jury Duty Leave, and Voting Leave

Not specified by law.

Bereavement Leave

The UAE Labour Law does not have any provisions which entitle the employee to bereavement leave.

In such situations, employees may request for leave to be deducted from their annual leave, or consider unpaid leave or any other arrangement, which the employer would agree to.

Military Leave

Not specified by law.