UAE Annual Leave, Sick Leave and Public Holidays Explained

Most private sector employees in the UAE mainland get 30 calendar days of paid annual leave a year, up to 90 days of sick leave with tiered pay, and a set of official public holidays announced each year by the government. These rights come mainly from Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations, though free zones like the DIFC and ADGM run their own separate employment laws.

Annual Leave: How Much and When

Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, full-time employees on the UAE mainland earn annual leave based on length of service. An employee who has worked for one year or more gets 30 calendar days of paid leave per year. Someone who has worked between six months and one year gets 2 days of leave for each month worked. Employees with less than six months of service generally do not yet qualify for paid annual leave, though this can vary by contract.

Employers decide when leave is taken, usually after giving the employee notice, and can require leave to be taken at a specific time if business needs demand it. Many contracts allow a portion of unused leave to be carried over to the next year, but employers can also require leave to be used within the year or pay it out instead. If an employee leaves the company with untaken annual leave, they are entitled to be paid for those unused days, calculated on their basic salary, as part of their final settlement.

Public holidays that fall during an employee's annual leave are usually added on as extra days off, not counted against the leave balance. Weekly rest days work the same way.

Sick Leave: Pay Tiers and Rules

Sick leave in the UAE mainland follows a three-tier pay structure once an employee has completed their probation period. An employee cannot use paid sick leave during probation, though most employers still allow time off for genuine illness on an unpaid basis or through mutual agreement.

Once probation ends, an employee can take up to 90 days of sick leave in a year, whether taken all at once or spread across several periods. Pay works like this:

• The first 15 days are on full pay.
• The next 30 days are on half pay.
• Any remaining days, up to the 90 day cap, are unpaid.

To claim paid sick leave, the employee normally needs to notify the employer within a short window, often within a day or two of falling ill, and provide a medical certificate from a licensed UAE healthcare provider. An employer can dismiss an employee whose sick leave has been exhausted and who still cannot return to work, subject to the wider rules on termination and end-of-service benefits.

It is worth noting that sick leave taken due to a genuine work-related injury or occupational illness is treated differently. Costs and time off linked to workplace accidents are usually covered separately, often alongside compensation obligations on the employer, rather than being counted against the standard 90-day sick leave allowance.

Public Holidays in the UAE

The UAE observes a mix of fixed-date holidays and Islamic calendar holidays that shift each year based on moon sightings. The government announces the exact dates, and sometimes the exact length, of the Islamic holidays shortly before they occur, since they depend on lunar sighting.

Typical public holidays include:

• New Year's Day (1 January)
• Eid al-Fitr (usually three days)
• Arafat Day and Eid al-Adha (usually three to four days combined)
• Islamic New Year
• Prophet Mohammed's Birthday (Mawlid)
• Commemoration Day (1 December)
• National Day (2 to 3 December)

The Cabinet decides the official public holiday list for the private sector each year, and it can add an extra day in some years, as it has done in the past around National Day. Employees who work on a public holiday are usually entitled to either a substitute day off or extra pay, depending on their contract and the employer's policy, in line with the general rules on overtime and rest days under the labour law.

Because the Islamic holidays move each year, the exact number of public holiday days is not fixed and can vary from around 13 to 15 days depending on how the dates fall against weekends.

Other Leave Entitlements Worth Knowing

Annual, sick and public holiday leave get most of the attention, but the 2021 labour law also created several other leave categories that many employees are unaware of:

• Parental leave: Both mothers and fathers working in the private sector can take five working days of paid parental leave within the first six months after their child's birth.
• Bereavement (mourning) leave: Employees get paid time off following the death of a close family member, with the number of days depending on the relationship, generally longer for a spouse than for other relatives.
• Study leave: Employees with at least two years of service can get several paid days off per year to sit exams at a UAE-accredited educational institution.
• Hajj leave: Muslim employees with at least one year of service can take unpaid leave once during their employment to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.
• Maternity leave: Female employees get paid maternity leave, split between full pay and half pay, plus the right to nursing breaks for a period after returning to work.

These entitlements sit alongside, not instead of, the standard annual and sick leave allowances.

Mainland Law vs Free Zone Rules

Most UAE free zones, such as JAFZA or DMCC, still apply the federal labour law described above. However, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) are different. Both operate under their own employment laws, separate from Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, with their own minimum standards for leave, notice periods and end-of-service payments.

If you work for a company registered in the DIFC or ADGM, do not assume the mainland numbers above apply to you. Check your employment contract and the specific free zone law, since the figures can differ meaningfully.

What to do next

• Read your employment contract carefully. It should set out your annual leave, sick leave and holiday entitlements, and cannot lawfully offer less than the legal minimum for your jurisdiction.
• Check whether you are on the UAE mainland, a standard free zone, or the DIFC/ADGM, since the applicable law is different.
• Keep records of your leave requests, sick leave notifications and medical certificates in case of a dispute.
• If your employer refuses to pay you correctly for sick leave, annual leave, or unused leave on termination, you can file a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) if you are on the mainland, or with the relevant free zone authority or court if you work in a free zone.
• If a dispute is not resolved through the ministry, it can proceed to the labour courts, or to the DIFC or ADGM Courts for those jurisdictions.
• For anything involving large sums, termination, or a workplace injury, get advice before signing any settlement or resignation letter, since these documents often affect your right to claim later.

This article is general information about UAE law, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different. For advice on your own case, speak to a licensed UAE lawyer.

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