Annual Leave Calculator UAE: Entitlement and Leave Salary Guide
Every private sector employee in the UAE is entitled to a minimum of 30 calendar days of paid annual leave once they pass one year of service, calculated on basic salary. This page explains how to work out your own entitlement, your leave salary if you resign or are terminated, and where emergency leave fits into the picture.
Need your gratuity too? Use our Gratuity Calculator UAE for your full end of service estimate.
Annual Leave Entitlement Formula
| Length of Service | Entitlement |
|---|---|
| Less than 6 months | No paid annual leave yet |
| 6 months to 1 year | 2 calendar days per month worked, pro rata |
| 1 year or more | 30 calendar days per year |
Annual leave is counted in calendar days, not working days, so weekends falling inside your leave period are included in the count rather than extending it.
Worked Example
An employee joins on 1 January 2025 and resigns on 15 May 2026. That is 1 year, 4 months, and 15 days of service.
≈ 11.25 days
This total is reduced by any annual leave days already taken.
Leave Salary and Leave Encashment
If you leave a job with unused annual leave days, your employer must pay you for those days in cash as part of your final settlement, a payment generally referred to as leave encashment or leave salary.
Is Leave Salary Calculated on Basic or Gross Salary?
Leave encashment paid out at the end of employment is calculated on basic salary only, the same principle used for gratuity. This is different from leave salary paid while you are still employed and actually taking leave, which is generally based on your full wage. Confirm which scenario applies to your specific situation, since the wage basis genuinely differs between the two.
Emergency Leave in the UAE
Emergency leave is not a separately defined statutory leave category under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. In practice, employees requesting urgent time off for a genuine emergency generally do so either by using part of their annual leave balance, or through an unpaid leave arrangement agreed with their employer, since the law does not set out a distinct emergency leave entitlement with its own day count.
How to Request Emergency Leave
Since there is no standard statutory process, most emergency leave requests follow whatever procedure your employer’s internal policy sets out. A written request explaining the nature of the emergency, submitted as early as reasonably possible, is generally the safest approach, and keeping a copy of any approval helps avoid later disputes about whether the day was authorized.
Grievance Leave
Similarly, grievance leave is not a distinct statutory category under current UAE labor law. Where employees use this term, they generally mean either compassionate or bereavement leave, which is a defined entitlement under Article 32, or a personal arrangement with their employer that falls outside the standard leave categories.
Annual Leave Calculator UAE: What Counts as Service
Your leave entitlement accrues from your actual start date, including any probation period, since probation counts toward continuous service for leave purposes. If you have taken unpaid leave for an extended period during your employment, confirm with HR whether that time was excluded from your leave accrual calculation, since practices can vary.
Common Mistakes People Make
Public Holidays and Annual Leave
Official UAE public holidays are separate from your annual leave allocation and do not count against your 30 day entitlement. If a public holiday happens to fall during a period when you are already on approved annual leave, you are generally entitled to have that day added back to your leave balance rather than losing it, though confirm this specific point with your HR team since practices can vary by employer.
Annual Leave for Part Time Employees
Part time employees are entitled to annual leave on a pro rated basis, calculated using the ratio of their contracted hours to a standard full time schedule. The underlying 30 day entitlement for full time work after one year of service remains the reference point, scaled down according to how many hours the part time role actually covers.
Carrying Over Unused Annual Leave
Employers can generally allow unused annual leave to carry over into the following year, though the law does not require an unlimited carryover. Many employers set an internal policy capping how many days can roll forward, after which remaining days may be forfeited or paid out, depending on company policy. Check your specific employer’s leave policy for the exact carryover rules that apply to you, since this is one of the areas where individual company practice varies more than the underlying law itself.
Leave Encashment While Still Employed
Some employers allow employees to encash a portion of unused annual leave while still actively employed, rather than only at the end of service, though this is generally a matter of company policy rather than a guaranteed statutory right. If this option interests you, it is worth raising directly with HR to understand your specific employer’s approach.
Leave Encashment While Still Employed
Since payroll systems occasionally undercount leave days, especially across multiple approvals or partial day requests, it helps to keep your own simple record alongside whatever your employer’s HR system shows.