Understand the regulations on vacation and other types of leave in United Arab Emirates
In the UAE, employees who have completed a year of continuous service are entitled to 30 calendar days of paid vacation leave annually. For those with less than a year of service but more than six months, leave entitlement is calculated on a pro-rata basis, offering two days per month worked.
Vacation leave entitlement is dependent on uninterrupted employment with the same employer. This implies that the employee must have been working continuously for the employer without any significant breaks in service.
Employees are typically allowed to carry forward a portion of their unused leave to the subsequent year. However, the accumulated leave cannot exceed half of the year's entitlement in most instances. This means that if an employee does not use all of their vacation leave in a given year, they can carry some of it forward to the next year, but the total amount of leave carried forward cannot be more than half of the total leave entitlement for that year.
Employers often have a significant amount of input in determining vacation schedules. This is done within the parameters set out by the labor law, which provides guidelines on how vacation leave should be scheduled and taken.
In the United Arab Emirates, there are several public holidays celebrated throughout the year. These holidays can be categorized into national and religious holidays.
The UAE celebrates three main national holidays:
The UAE also observes Islamic holidays, which follow the lunar Hijri calendar:
There are a few important things to note about public holidays in the UAE:
Employees in the UAE have access to various types of leave, each with its own set of entitlements and legal references.
Employees who have completed one year of service are entitled to 30 calendar days of paid annual leave. Those with less than a year of service are entitled to 2 days of leave per month worked. This is in accordance with the UAE Federal Labour Law, Article 75.
After completing three months of continuous service, employees are entitled to paid sick leave. The duration is as follows:
This is as per the UAE Federal Labour Law, Article 81.
Female employees are entitled to 45 days of paid maternity leave, including time both before and after birth. This is in line with the UAE Federal Labour Law, Article 30.
Muslim employees who have completed five years of continuous service are entitled to a special one-time paid leave of 30 days to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.
Male employees may be entitled to a short period of paid paternity leave upon the birth of their child, usually 3-5 days, depending on company policy.
This may be granted for employees pursuing further education or training, subject to company policies.
Some companies may offer enhanced leave provisions, exceeding the minimums set out by law.
The Labor Law allows for leave under special circumstances (e.g., marriage or a death in the family), but those provisions may vary by employer.
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