Final settlement in the UAE: what you're owed and when it's paid

What a final settlement is, line by line

The labour law doesn't say “final settlement”. It says that when the contract ends your employer pays “his wages and all his other entitlements” under the law, the contract and the company's rules (Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021, Art. 53 (opens in a new window)). That means:

• Last salary: the days you worked and haven't been paid for, on your full wage.
• Unused annual leave: paid in cash, on basic salary.
• Gratuity: worked out on basic salary, once you've done 1 year.
• Notice pay: only when one side doesn't keep to the notice. It can be owed to you, or by you.
• A ticket home, unless you join another employer or the ending is put down to you.
• Less the deductions the law lists, within its limits.

Most pages for this search are calculators, so here is what ours does. The free gratuity calculator works out two of these lines: gratuity, and the leave salary for your unused days. It doesn't work out your last salary, notice pay or deductions, which depend on your payslip, your contract and what you owe. This guide shows how.

These are the federal rules, for the mainland and most free zones. The DIFC and ADGM have their own.

Last salary, notice pay and the ticket home

Last salary. You're paid up to and including your last working day, on your full wage: basic plus allowances. For part of a month, a day's pay is taken as the monthly wage divided by 30. No article sets a day's pay for people paid by the month, but the law counts a month as 30 days when it works out periods (Art. 67), and MOHRE's own wages guide divides by the same number (MOHRE (opens in a new window)).

Notice pay. Notice is 30 to 90 days, as your contract says, on normal pay while you work it. Pay in lieu comes up only when one side doesn't keep to the notice: that side pays the other the wage for the notice, or for what was left of it, at your last wage, so basic plus allowances (Art. 43 (opens in a new window)). It runs both ways: leave early without your employer's agreement and you owe it the wage for the notice you didn't work.

How the job ends changes this line more than any other (the notice you owe is in probation, notice and resigning):

• On probation: your employer gives 14 days' written notice (Art. 9). There's no gratuity under 1 year, but pay to your last day is still owed.
• Dismissal without notice: only for the reasons the law lists, after a written investigation (Art. 44). There's no notice pay then.
• Dismissed for filing a serious complaint or a lawsuit: that is unlawful, and a court can add up to 3 months' wage to your notice pay and gratuity (Art. 47).

The ticket home. Your employer pays to send you back to the place it recruited you from, or another place you both agreed, unless you've joined another employer or the reason for ending the contract “was attributed to the worker”; then you pay (Art. 13(12) (opens in a new window)).

Unused leave and gratuity: the two lines our calculator works out

Unused leave. Annual leave you haven't taken when the job ends is paid in cash “according to the basic wage”, part of your last year included: each day is your monthly basic divided by 30. The words are in Cabinet Resolution 1 of 2022, Art. 19(2), and in Art. 29(9) of the law as MOHRE publishes it (opens in a new window); the Legislation portal's English text of Art. 29(9) leaves that sentence out. Leave you take is paid differently, on your full wage: see how leave salary is calculated.

Gratuity. A full-time foreign employee with 1 year or more of continuous service gets 21 days of basic pay for each of the first 5 years and 30 days for each year after, with part years in proportion. It's worked out on your last basic wage and can't be more than 2 years' wage. Under 1 year there is none (Art. 51 (opens in a new window), u.ae (opens in a new window)).

• Probation counts as service. Days of unpaid absence don't.
• Art. 51 has one formula, with no reduction for resigning or being dismissed.
• UAE nationals get a pension instead.

Put your basic salary, your dates and your unused leave days into the calculator and it shows both lines, step by step. Use your basic, not your package: see basic salary and allowances. The formula in full is in how gratuity is worked out.

A worked example

Take a typical software engineer package of AED 30,500 (≈ ₹7.9 lakh) a month, with a basic salary of AED 18,500 (≈ ₹4.8 lakh). Your employer ends the contract after 5 years, halfway through a month, and asks you not to work your 30-day notice. You have 15 days of leave left and nothing to repay.

The calculator gives AED 74,000 (≈ ₹19.2 lakh) for this case: the leave and gratuity lines. Add the last salary and the notice pay yourself, and take off any deductions. Had you resigned and worked your notice, there would be no notice line.

What your employer may take off, and what it may not

Nothing may be taken from your wage except in the cases the law lists (Art. 25 (opens in a new window)):

• A loan from your employer, with your written consent and no interest.
• Money paid to you by mistake: at most 20% of the wage.
• Pension and insurance contributions, and payments into a savings fund or a scheme you joined in writing.
• Penalties under company rules that MOHRE has approved: at most 5% of the wage.
• A debt under a court judgment: at most 25% of the wage, more for alimony.
• Damage you caused through your own fault: at most 5 days' wage a month, unless a court approves more.

With several reasons at once, the total can't pass 50% of the wage. From your gratuity, the employer may take what you owe it under the law or a judgment: the same kinds of amount (Art. 51(7); Cabinet Resolution 1 of 2022, Art. 29). For penalties and damage it must have followed the law's procedure, and no more than 3 months may have passed since the amount fell due, unless you agreed otherwise.

What may not come off: the cost of hiring you. “The employer is prohibited from charging the worker for the fees and costs of recruitment and employment or collecting them from him, whether directly or indirectly” (Art. 6(4) (opens in a new window)).

When it must be paid, and what to check before you sign

Your employer must pay everything within 14 days of the end date of the contract. The law says days, not working days (Art. 53 (opens in a new window); u.ae (opens in a new window) says the same).

You may be asked to sign a paper saying you've received all your dues. Under the law, a discharge or waiver of your rights is “null and void if it violates its provisions” (Art. 65(3) (opens in a new window)), so a signature can't give away what the law gives you. Even so, don't confirm you've received money that hasn't reached your account. Check:

• The paper: each line above, with the dates and the basic and full wage used, and every deduction named.
• Your experience certificate: free on request, with your dates, total service, job title, last wage and the reason the job ended, and nothing that harms your reputation (Art. 13(11)).
• Your documents: your employer may not keep your official documents, or force you to leave the country when the job ends (Art. 13(2)).
• Employer housing: you have 30 days from the end of your service to move out (Art. 16(10)).

Your visa and the grace period that follows are in after your last day.

If it's late: MOHRE first, then the court

1. 1

   Complain to MOHRE

   A court won't take a labour case that hasn't been to the Ministry first (Art. 54 (opens in a new window)). Use MOHRE's complaint service (opens in a new window) on its website or app, or call 80084. There is no fee.
2. 2

   MOHRE tries to settle it

   Its rules give it 14 days from the complaint to settle the dispute or refer it to court. That clock is separate from the 14 days your employer has to pay (Ministerial Resolution 782 of 2023 (opens in a new window)).
3. 3

   Smaller claims: MOHRE decides

   For a claim of up to AED 50,000 (≈ ₹13.0 lakh), the Ministry can decide it itself, and its decision can be enforced. Either side can ask the Court of First Instance to review it within 15 working days, and the court decides within 30 working days. MOHRE's English text says “Court of Appeal” here; the Arabic text (opens in a new window), which prevails, and the Legislation portal's English (opens in a new window) say Court of First Instance.
4. 4

   Larger claims: the labour court

   If there's no settlement, MOHRE refers the case, and you register it with the court within 14 days of the referral. Employees pay no court fees on claims of up to AED 100,000 (≈ ₹25.9 lakh). The steps are on u.ae's disputes page (opens in a new window).

Two time limits apply. The law bars any claim 2 years after the employment relationship ends (Art. 54(9), as replaced by Federal Decree-Law 9 of 2024). MOHRE's complaint rules say to complain within 30 days of the breach (Resolution 782, Art. 1 (opens in a new window); MOHRE's advice to workers (opens in a new window)). No official text we read explains how the two fit together, so don't test it: complain as soon as the 14 days have passed. u.ae's disputes page still gives a limit of 1 year; that is the old rule.

DIFC, ADGM and the savings scheme

Two financial free zones have their own employment law, and one scheme replaces the gratuity line.

• DIFC. Everything is due within 14 days of your termination date, including a day's wage for each day of leave not taken. Instead of gratuity, your employer pays into DEWS, a savings plan, every month; only gratuity earned before DEWS began is settled now. If more than 1 week's wage is late, a court can award a day's wage for each day of delay. Claim within 6 months. We found no article on a ticket home, so check your contract (DIFC Employment Law, Arts. 10, 19 and 66 (opens in a new window)).
• ADGM. Wages and other amounts are due within 21 calendar days, with the same daily penalty for late payment, capped at 6 months. Gratuity stays, whatever the reason for leaving. You get a one-way flight home within 30 calendar days, unless you find a job or sponsor in the UAE or were dismissed for cause. The time limit for a claim in the ADGM Courts is 6 years (Employment Regulations 2024, ss. 14, 61 and 62 (opens in a new window); ADGM's guidance (opens in a new window)).
• The savings scheme. An employer under the federal law can choose to pay into an investment fund each month in place of gratuity. The fund pays you within 14 days of leaving, and gratuity earned before your employer joined is still owed (u.ae (opens in a new window)). If the job ends before you have worked 1 full year for that employer, it can take its own contributions back (Cabinet Resolution 96 of 2023, Art. 10 (opens in a new window)).

Choose DIFC in the calculator and it shows the least your employer must have paid into DEWS, and no leave salary, because the DIFC pays unused leave on its own daily wage, not on basic. The DEWS rates and ADGM's formula are in the gratuity guide.

Sources

1. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 with its amendments, and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 (consolidated English text) (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
2. Guidance on the ADGM Employment Regulations 2024 (opens in a new window), ADGM Employment Affairs Office, 18 February 2025
3. Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2023 concerning the alternative voluntary end-of-service scheme (English text, PDF) (opens in a new window), UAE Legislation portal, 10 October 2026
4. Employment Law, DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019 (consolidated version No. 5, July 2025) (opens in a new window), DIFC, 10 October 2026
5. Resolving labour disputes (opens in a new window), u.ae (MOHRE), 12 August 2026
6. End of service benefits for employees in the private sector (opens in a new window), u.ae, 12 August 2026
7. Register Labour Complaints: Private Sector Employees (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
8. Dear worker: know your rights (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
9. Ministerial Resolution No. 782 of 2023 regulating the process for resolving individual labour complaints (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 26 December 2023
10. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 as amended (Arabic text, which prevails, PDF) (opens in a new window), UAE Legislation portal, 10 October 2026
11. Additional working hours, wages and leaves: a guide (opens in a new window), MOHRE, 10 October 2026
12. Employment Regulations 2024 (consolidated text) (opens in a new window), ADGM, 28 October 2025
13. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 as amended (English text, PDF) (opens in a new window), UAE Legislation portal, 10 October 2026