Beware of your Employment benefits!!

Benefits of continuous employment-UAE Labour Law

If an employee continuously works for an organization he/she will be entitled for gratuity upon termination or resignation. For these benefits to kick in, an employee should at least have accrued one year’s continuous service in the company and dismissal must not be for gross misconduct. Gratuity shall be calculated on the basis of last drawn basic salary of an employee.

As per UAE Labour Law gratuity shall be computed at the rate mentioned below:

• 21 days’ pay for each year of service up to the first five years’ service
• 30 days’ pay for each year of service in excess of five years’ service.

Note: The same rule shall be applicable to the employees who work for DIFC and Free zone.

An employee with unlimited contract who work in the organisaiton for a period of less than five years’  and then resigns by his own he is entitled to a reduced gratuity payment, calculated on the basis of length of service, as follows:

• If an employee works for more than a year but less than three years’ he shall be entitled to one third of the total gratuity.
• If an employee who works for more than three years’ but less than five years’ he shall be entitled to two-thirds of the total gratuity.
• If an employee who works more than five years’ he shall be entitled to the full gratuity.

An employee with a limited contract who work in the organization resigns by his own before completing the contract period , he shall not be entitled to any gratuity amount.

In following cases where an employee is not entitled to any end of service gratuity payment:

• The employees who is entitled for company pension which complies with provision of the Labour Law or DIFC Law
• Pension contributions are made on the employee’s behalf to the General Pension and Society Security Authority (GPSSA)

Employee are also entitled for Annual Leave, Sick Leave and Maternity Leave. 

Annual Leave:

As per the Law and employee is entitled to annual leave after completing each year of service:

• Two days leave for every month if his service is more than six months and less than a year
• 30 days annual leave if his service exceeds one year.

If an employee resigns or terminated he is entitled to annual leave for the fraction of the last year he spent in service.

Sick Leave:

As per the Law an employee is not entiteld to any paid sick leave during probation period. After the probation if an employee falls sick then he shall be entitled to sick leave not more than 90 days either continuous or intermittent per each year of service, computed as below:

• Full pay for the first 15 days
• Half pay for the next 30 days
• No pay for any following period

It should be noted that the employee should provide evidence of his illness warranting sick leave by an official medical certificate.

Maternity Leave:

As per the Law  working women is entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of forty five days) including the time before and after delivery, provided that her continuous period of service with the employer is not be less than a year(1 year). But if a working woman has not completed the said period, the maternity leave shall be with half pay.

There are no transfer regulations and an individual’s employment with the first employer is treated as having terminated on the transfer to a new employer.

Note: I am only listing basic Employment Benefits. Your Company may have better benefits.

Does your company offer any other benefits? Let me know!