Leave looks like the simplest thing in HR and generates a disproportionate share of the disputes, because entitlement, pay rate and service accrual are three separate questions and people answer them as one. This is the framework introduced by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, organised the way payroll actually has to apply it.
Annual leave
- Thirty calendar days a year once an employee has completed a year of service.
- Two days a month for an employee with more than six months and less than a year of service.
- Accrued but untaken leave is payable on the basic wage at the end of service.
The detail that catches people is the divisor. Annual leave is expressed in calendar days, so a policy administered in working days has to be converted consistently — and the conversion has to be the same one used at settlement, or the final number will not match what the employee has been watching accrue all year.
Sick leave and its tiers
After probation, an employee is entitled to up to 90 days of sick leave per year, which can be continuous or intermittent. It is not paid at a single rate — it steps down:
| Period | Pay |
|---|---|
| First 15 days | Full wage |
| Next 30 days | Half wage |
| Remaining 45 days | Unpaid |
This is why sick leave belongs in the policy engine rather than in a payroll adjustment. The tier boundary can fall mid-month, and the same absence can be paid at two rates within one payslip. A system that stores sick leave as a single balance will get the second month wrong.
Parental and family leave
- Maternity leave of 60 days — 45 on full pay, followed by 15 on half pay.
- Parental leave of five working days, available to either parent within the first six months after the birth.
- Bereavement leave of five days for a spouse, and three days for a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild.
- Study leave of ten days a year for employees enrolled at an accredited institution in the UAE, after two years of service.
Where leave changes the money later
Two effects reach past the payslip, and both are places systems get it wrong quietly:
Unpaid leave does not count as service
Periods of unpaid leave are excluded from the length of service used to calculate end-of-service gratuity. A system that computes service as the difference between joining and leaving dates will overstate the entitlement for anyone who has taken a sabbatical, extended unpaid sick leave or unpaid hajj leave.
Untaken annual leave is a liability
Accrued leave is money owed, and it accrues whether or not anyone is looking. Carrying it as a visible provision — rather than discovering it at resignation — is the difference between a managed cost and a quarterly surprise.
Free zones and financial free zones
The DIFC and ADGM operate their own employment regulations, and entitlements there are not the mainland ones. If you employ across more than one regime, set policy per entity rather than per company — the correct answer for one of your employees is the wrong answer for another.
This guide is general information about UAE employment practice, not legal advice, and the rules are amended from time to time. Confirm any specific case with your own counsel.