Can You File a Complaint If Your Employer Delays the Payment of Gratuity ?

An employee becomes eligible for gratuity in the UAE after completing a year or more in continuous service.

If you submit your resignation or your service has been terminated, after a year of service then your employer shall pay all the employee’s outstanding dues, including salary, housing allowance, leave allowance, end-of-service gratuity, and any other benefits mentioned in your contract.

As per the Article 51 clause 2 of the New UAE Labour Law on End of Service Benefits for Full-Time Workers:

The full-time foreign worker, who completed a year or more in continuous service, shall be entitled to end of service benefits at the end of his service, calculated according to the basic wage as per the following:

1. A wage of (21) twenty one days for each year of the first five years of service;
2. A wage of (30) thirty days for each year exceeding such period.

As per the Article 53 of the New Labour Law on Paying the Workers’ Entitlements at the End of the Contract Term:

The employer shall pay to the worker, within (14) fourteen days from the end date of the contract term, his wages and all his other entitlements stipulated herein and resolutions issued for its implementation, the contract or the establishment’s by-laws.

If your employer is refusing to pay you, you can raise raise a complaint to the Labour Office and if the matter is not settled amicably between you and your employer, the ministry may issue a letter allowing both parties to file a case in a Labour Court. The benefit is calculated according to the final remuneration payable at the time of termination, excluding all allowances and benefits in kind.

Complaint can be filed with MOHRE through the following Options:

1. Call the Ministry’s hotline on 800 60.
2. Download the MOHRE app and file a labour complaint
3. Visit www.mohre.gov.ae and select the option for filing a labour complaint.