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GUIDE · UPDATED SEPTEMBER 2026

UAE leave entitlements, the whole catalogue

Annual, sick, maternity, parental, Hajj, bereavement and study leave — how much, at what pay, and how accrual and encashment actually work.

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UAE statutory leave entitlements
Leave typeEntitlementPay
Annual leave30 calendar days per year (20 working days in ADGM)Full pay
Annual leave, 6–12 months' service2 days per monthFull pay
Sick leaveUp to 90 days per year, after probation15 days full, 30 days half, 45 days unpaid
Maternity leave60 days45 days full, 15 days half
Parental leave5 working daysFull pay
Hajj leaveUp to 30 days, once during serviceUnpaid
Bereavement leave5 days (spouse) or 3 days (close relative)Full pay
Study leave10 days per year, for accredited UAE studyFull pay

Mainland entitlements under Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021. Free zone, DIFC and ADGM entities may differ — DIFC and ADGM carry their own regimes.

Accrual, carry-forward and encashment

  • Accrual — posts monthly per employee per leave type; balances stay current instead of being reconstructed at year end.
  • Carry-forward — set by policy. Configure the cap and the lapse rule once, and apply it consistently; ad-hoc exceptions are how disputes start.
  • Encashment — on basic plus housing over a 30-day month, for encashable types only. Runs automatically inside the final settlement.
  • Leave without pay — flows into payroll as a deduction and is excluded from continuous service for gratuity purposes.
  • Public holidays — held per entity and location, and they drive both working-day calculations and the 1.5× overtime multiplier.
  • Ramadan — the working day reduces by two hours; this affects attendance and overtime, not leave balances.

Not legal advice. The figures and rules on this page reflect the statutory references built into eHRMS at the time of writing, and are provided for general guidance. Entitlements change and individual contracts, free zones, DIFC and ADGM differ — always confirm current requirements with MOHRE, your free zone authority or your labour counsel.

FAQ

Leave questions

30 calendar days per year for mainland employees once a full year of service is completed. ADGM entities carry 20 working days instead. Employees with more than six months but less than a year accrue at two days per month.

Up to 90 days per year after the probation period, paid on a sliding scale: the first 15 days at full pay, the next 30 at half pay, and the remaining 45 unpaid.

60 days — 45 at full pay followed by 15 at half pay — plus the additional nursing-break and related entitlements provided in the law.

Leave salary and encashment are computed on basic plus housing over a 30-day month, per the statutory reference. Only leave types your policy marks encashable are cashed out.

In eHRMS, a scheduled job posts accrual on the 1st of each month per employee per leave type, so balances are always current and there is no year-end reconciliation exercise.

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