UAE Labour Law: Things to know about shifts, leaves and wages

Public holidays

Employees are entitled for paid leave on the following public holidays:

    .    Hijri New Year - 1 day
    .    Gregorian New Year - 1 day
    .    Eid Al Fitr - 2 days
    .    Waqfa day and Eid Al Adha - 3 days
    .    Prophet Mohammed's birthday - 1 day
    .    Isra and Miraj or the Ascension Day - 1 day
    .    Martyr's Day - 1 day
    .    National Day - 1 day
 
Annual leave

Employees are entitled to an annual leave of:

    .    2 days per month, if they have completed six months of service but not one year

    .    30 days, if they have completed one year of service.

Sick leave

Employees are entitled to a sick leave of not more than 90 days per year subject to conditions stipulated in the law. They will receive full pay for the first 15 days, half pay for the next 30 days and no pay for the rest 45 days.

Special leave

Employees may be granted a special leave without pay, which may not exceed 30 days for the performance of Haj once throughout his service. This is granted only once during his years of employment.

Employees are not entitled to any paid sick leave during the probation period.

Maternity, childcare leave

Working females are entitled to 45 days of full pay for maternity leave provided that she has served continuously for at least one year. Maternity leave is paid with half pay if one year of service has yet to be completed. At the end of the maternity leave, the woman has the ability to extend her leave at an unpaid rate for a maximum period of 10 days.

For the first 18 months following delivery, female employees who nurse their child are granted two paid rest intervals per day, not exceeding 30 minutes, in order to complete this task.

Working fathers are not provided paternity leave under the law.

Reduction in working hours

Construction and industrial workers are not permitted to work during the hottest hours of the day during the summer. Any firm found to have staff working during the designated break time would be fined Dh5,000 per worker up to a maximum of Dh50,000.

Also, employees are entitled to work 2 hours less every day during the holy month of Ramadan.

Minimum wages

There is no minimum salary stipulated in the UAE Labour Law, however, it broadly mentions that salaries must cover basic needs of the employees.

Article 63 of the law mentions that the minimum wage and cost of living index is determined either in general or for a particular area or a particular profession by virtue of a decree and consent of the Cabinet.

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