UAE Annual Leave Law and Vacation Rules

This is the right of employee to get Annual Leave in UAE as per Labour Law, and this is everybody wish to get call for their annual leave and vacation at the end of their yearly service for the company.

We encourage everyone to learn more about your rights regarding UAE Annual Leave in-order to respond to your company HR, PRO or Management decisions on your benefits provided by Government.

Click Here: UAE Labour Law PDF Download

Questions we are going to answer will be:

Q: What are the New Rules for UAE Annual Leave?

Q: What is annual leave and who is entitled for it?

Q: Do we entitled for air ticket as per UAE Labour Law?

Q: What are the days of Annual leave Holidays in UAE?

Q: Who decides when you go on annual leave, Company or Employee?

Q: When will we be paid and what are we entitled for?

Q: What if there are public holidays during annual leave?

Q: What if someone fall sick on annual leave?

Q: What if someone couldn’t come back to work within signed Holidays?

Q: Can employee be fired during his/her annual leave?

Q: Do I allowed to work for another company during my annual leave?

Q: Can we force company for Air Fare in cash?

Q: Please Describe Annual Leave as per UAE LABOUR LAW Articles.

Q: What if I worked for same company during Annual Leave Holiday?

Q: Can I entitled for Sick Leave during Probationary Period?

Q: Do we eligible for Housing and other Allowances during Annual Leave?

New Rules for Annual Leave in UAE:

The government employees working in Dubai will get 12 types of leaves from January 2019, according to the new human resources law.

The new law obligates the managers to respond to leave requests within 10 days.

According to a report the new leaves are

1: Annual leave,

2: Sick leave,

3: Maternity leave,

4: Paternity leave,

5: Mourning leave,

6: Leave for death-related events,

7: Haj vacation,

8: Participation in events,

9: Accompanying sick leave,

10: Leave for partner, study leave,

11: Leave without pay,

12: Leave for national service and reserve.

What are the days of Annual leave Holidays in UAE?

Generally, company allow the 30 days to employee but now the annual leave days have increased and have been linked to the working grades:

30 working days for staff 12 and above,

25 working days for grades 4 to 11,

18 working days for grades 3 or below.

What is UAE Annual Leave and who is Entitled for it?

Annual leave is a paid time off work granted by companies (employers) to workers (employees) to be used for whatever the employee wishes.

Please clear that a person who is working (full time work) under UAE LABOURS LAW is entitled to Annual Leave and it is a basic right of every worker written in various UAE Labor Law Articles.

Article 75 stated: “Employee is entitled for 30 days annually if his service exceeds one year. At the end of the service the employee is entitled to an annual leave for the fraction of the last year he spent in service”.

Do we entitle for air ticket as per UAE Labour Law?

The most important aspect and the mostly asked question by our readers is that “do we entitled for air ticket after completing 1 year of Service? The answer is NO. The company is not liable to pay air ticket to the employees by completing 1 year of service, but the rules are change upon the expiry of employment contract.

When an employee completes the employment contract (2 year or 3 years) and there is no intention to renew the contract, the company should provide the air ticket to the employee’s home country.

This is mentioned in the Article 131 of the UAE Labour Law “Expenses for repatriation of an employee to his place of origin or any other place agreed upon by both parties shall be borne by the employer. If the employee after the end of his contract takes up employment somewhere else, repatriation expenses upon termination of his service shall be paid by the last employer subject to the provisions in the preceding clauses, and if the employer has failed to repatriate the employee and has not paid the repatriation expenses, the competent authorities shall do this at the employer’s expense by way of attachment. If the cause for termination of contract is attributed to the employee, his repatriation will be arranged at his own expense if he has the mean to pay”.

Who decides when to go on annual leave, Company or Worker?

If you are employee (worker), you could decide when your annual leave starts. However, employer (Company) can change or divide your Annual Leave if the exigencies of work necessitate.

Article 76 stated: “The employer may at his discretion determine the date for commencement of annual leaves and, when necessary, he may decide to divide the leave in two parts at the most, except in cases of juveniles where vacation may not be divided in parts”.

When we will be paid and what are we entitled for?

UAE Labour Law clearly states that every Employee should get his/her annual Leave once his/her service exceeds 1 year. After one year of service, employee is entitled for full Salary before taking his/her Annual Leave.

Please note many companies are in violation of UAE Labour Law by paying only salary, you should be paid both your normal salary + Annual Salary.

Article 80 stated: “Annual leave shall be paid to the employee before taking his annual leave, the employee shall be paid his full wage, plus the wage of his leave days he deserves according to the provision of this law”.

What if there are public holidays during Annual leave?

In case of any official or Public holidays announced by Government during the Annual Leave, those days should be treated as part of Annual Leave.

Article 77 stated: “The calculation of duration of annual leave shall include holidays specified by law or by agreement, or by any other day because of sickness if they fall within the leave and shall be deemed to be part thereof”.

What if Employee get sick During Annual Leave?

In-case if worker is on leave and falls sick, he/she first report his/her company HR, PRO or Management about illness through Email or Fax as a record which can later be used in legal cases.

Article 82 stated: “If the employee falls sick for reasons other than labour injury he must report his illness within a period of two days at most and the employer must take necessary measures having him medically checked up to ascertain illness”.

What if someone couldn’t come back to work within given holidays?

If an employee (worker) delayed the rejoining or couldn’t come back to work after Annual Vacation due to family or other issues, he/she will not be entitled for any pay for the days he/she absent.

Article 89 stated: “Subject to the provisions herein contained, every employee who does not report to duty immediately after expiry of his vacation, he shall be deprived of his pay for the period of absence commencing from the day following to the date on which the leave has expired”.

Can employee be fired during annual vacation?

An employee working in any state of United Arab Emirates cannot be terminated by Company from his services while he/she is on annual leave.

If an employer (company) does dismiss a member of his staff while he/she is officially on leave, it may be considered an arbitrary dismissal and the affected employee can take course to legal action against company.

Do I allowed to work for another company during my annual leave?

No, you are not allowed to work for another company during your Annual Leave or Vacations.

If you get caught while working for another company, your Company/Employer or Sponsor has the right to terminate your service without any notice and you will be given any gratuity pay etc.

What if worker worked during Annual Leave Holidays for the same company?

As per Ministry of Labour Article 78, “if Employee made to work during his/her Annual Leave Holidays, he/she should get paid in cash on basis of his/her basic salary”.

Can I have entitled for Sick Leave during Probationary Period?

As per UAE LABOUR LAW Article 83 “During the probationary period, the employee is not entitled to any paid sick leave, If the employee spends over three months after completion of the probationary period, in the continuous service of employer, and falls sick during this period, he becomes entitled to a sick leave not more than 90 days either continuous or intermittent per each year or service, computed as follows:

A. The first 15 days with full pay.

B. The next 30 days, with half pay.

C. The subsequent period, without pay.

Article 78 Stated: “However if the exigencies of work necessitate that the employee works during his annual leave in whole or in part, and the period of leave during which he has worked, has not been carried forward to the next year, the employer ought to pay him his wage in addition to cash in lieu of leave for his working days based on his basic pay”.

Is worker eligible for Housing and Allowances during Annual Leave?

Yes, Employees are entitled for Basic salary and Housing allowance during annual leave.

Article 78 stated: “An employee shall be paid his basic wage plus the housing allowance, if applicable, and any other allowances which he receives in the normal working month.

Hopefully you’ve found this UAE Annual Leave Law guide very helpful, we will be very happy to answer your questions regarding UAE Annual Leave and Vacation as per Labour Law, you can use below comment box for your queries.