Q: Hi, Good morning. Please advise how many annual leave days a person is eligible in UAE? Is it working or calendar days? Our company is off during Friday and Saturday and I wanted to take annual leave on Thu (Dec.20) and I will rejoin on Dec. 23 (Sunday). How many annual leave days should be deducted from me? Another scenario, if I went for annual leave from Dec. 20 (Thu) until Dec. 23 (Sun) and will rejoin on Dec. 24, how many days should be deducted from me? Thank you so much for your help.

Q: Dear Madam. My JAFZA Employment Contract is an unlimited free zone contract. My services have been arbitrarily terminated on 09 Dec. 2018, and after having served the 90 days paid notice period, my tenure ended on 08 March 2019. I am now in the process of finalizing my end of service benefits, and there is a clarification required in regards to the basis of computation of the benefits. Queries are as under. Leave pay due to termination: I have 25 days unutilized leave which I intend to encash. What is the basis of computing the value of this leave pay? Would it be on the basis of: a.) gross monthly salary (which includes the latest basic salary + housing allowance + transport allowances) b.) or on the basis of latest basic salary + housing allowance c.) or on the basis of just the latest basic salary? Could you please clarify and provide me with the correct latest updated UAE Labor Law article ref. # 79 for the correct interpretation of the basis of calculation for the above leave pay.

Q: Good morning Madam, I joined a company in the UAE in January and completed my contract at the end of October. I didn't take any vacation during these days. How many days I can encash as my leave? Is this based on basic salary or basic salary + HRA? Please give your advice. Thank you for your support!

Q: Dear Madam/Sir, I am employed under a JAFZA contract, and at the end of June, I'm leaving the company and the UAE. My position is a manager and I am office-based. My employment contract is based on 5 working days per week (Friday and Saturday off). When I take my annual leave, only the weekdays are taken for my leave balance calculation (i.e. 2 weeks off costs me 10 days leave). I still have an outstanding leave balance of 12 days over 2021. The company will pay out these days with my final salary. However, I have my doubts about the way they calculate the value of these days. They take my monthly salary, divide this by 30 days, and multiply this by 12. But in my opinion, since I have a contract based on 5 days per week, they should take my monthly salary and divide it by 21.75 days instead of 30 days. I would like to know what is the correct way to calculate this, and how this is described in the UAE labor law. Thank you very much in advance. Kind regards, P.

Q: Hi, This query is being posted to seek clarification on another query that I saw on this website. Scenario 1: A company is off on Friday and Saturday and one of its employees wants to take annual leave on Thu (Dec.20) ONLY. He will rejoin on Sunday (Dec. 23). His annual leave entitlement is 30 days per year. Scenario 2: He takes annual leave from Thu (Dec.20) to Sun (Dec. 23) and rejoins on Mon (Dec. 24). As per Article 77 of the Labour law, the calculation of the duration of annual leave shall include national holidays specified by law or weekends if they fall within the annual leave. For scenario 1, the advice from one of the lawyers was that 3 days will be deducted. How can the weekend be included in the annual leave as it doesn't fall BETWEEN or WITHIN the annual leave? It falls after the annual leave. Moreover, the employee needs only one day's leave and if permitted, he would have worked on the following day but the company does not work on Friday and Saturday. Thanks!

Q: Hello dear Someone worked on (2) weekend days to be compensated later and I will take these two days to substitute Thursday and Friday noting that Saturday and Sunday are weekly offs. Will they deduct from my annual leave days extra 2 days, or is it’s a different scenario here cause they are in compensation?

Q: Hello team, I have a Chinese team in a Dubai-based company, they are working in Dubai itself. Can we exempt them from Dubai national holidays and provide holidays related to China national holidays? Can you please suggest something?

The UAE has adopted a major reform in its legislative system that brought about 40 new laws and amendments to the company law, criminal law, personal status, among others. The amendments aim to develop the legislative structure in various sectors, the labor law being one of these, was the most recent. We try in this article to shed light on the changes introduced with the new labor law and their significance on both, the employer and employee.

The provisions of this Law, known as "UAE Labour Law", govern the relationship between employers and employees and other labour matters in the United Arab Emirates. There are special labour related regulations applicable in some of the free zones in the UAE.

The provisions of this Decree-Law, known as "New UAE Labor Law", govern labour relations in the private sector of the United Arab Emirates. The New Labor Law repeals the previous UAE Labor Law (Federal Law No. (8) of 1980).