UAE gratuity, the end-of-service benefit, is set out in Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. For a full-time worker who completes at least one year, the usual calculation is 21 days of basic wage for each of the first five years, and 30 days of basic wage for each year after that. The total is capped at two years of wage. Under one year of service there is no gratuity under that rule. Checked on 9 October 2026. This page explains those steps in plain language. It is not a MOHRE decision.
What the gratuity rules actually use
- Basic wage, not the full package. Allowances are generally outside the sum. Check your contract for what is labelled basic.
- A daily rate in the calculator is basic wage divided by 30. That is the daily wage the estimator uses.
- A part year is included in proportion once you have crossed one full year.
- Under the current law, resigning does not by itself cut the gratuity the way the old law did. Confirm your own case with MOHRE if someone tells you “resignation means one third”.
- Days of unpaid leave are not counted as service. Unpaid leave and misconduct can change the result.
- The total stops at two years of wage even if the raw sum of days is higher.
The gratuity calculator follows that pattern and labels the result an estimate. It is not a MOHRE decision. Limited contracts, misconduct dismissals and some domestic or part-time arrangements have their own rules. Read the chapter on end of service on the UAE government portal and ask MOHRE if your case is unusual. MOHRE’s site is the ministry’s own door for labour questions.
Why two people with the same package get different numbers
If one contract shows a high basic and small allowances, and another shows the reverse, the gratuity is different even when the monthly cash feels the same. That is a reason to read the offer before you join, not only the total. A housing allowance, a transport allowance and a food allowance can make payday look healthy while the basic wage, which gratuity uses, stays small. Ask the employer to point at the word “basic” on the offer. If they will not, you do not yet know the end-of-service sum.
How to work the estimate yourself
Suppose the basic wage is AED 3,000. That number is only here so the steps are easy to see. It is not a typical salary and it is not a MOHRE award. The calculator’s daily wage is basic divided by 30, so the daily piece is AED 100. For each of the first five years the estimate uses 21 of those days. For each year after the fifth it uses 30 of those days. Three full years would be 3 times 21 times 100, which is AED 6,300. Six full years would be five years at 21 days plus one year at 30 days: AED 10,500 plus AED 3,000, which is AED 13,500.
The cap is two years of wage. Two years of a AED 3,000 basic wage is AED 72,000. The six-year illustration sits under that cap, so the cap does not change it. A very long service can hit the cap. The calculator applies it. Under one year, the estimate is zero. You do not get a fraction of the 21 days for eleven months of work under the basic rule described here. A contract might still promise something else. Read the contract, and do not treat a promise that is not in it as pay.
- Copy the basic wage from the contract or the payslip, not the total that hits your account.
- Count complete years. The calculator then turns extra days into a fraction of a year so a part year can be included in proportion. MOHRE may count that fraction differently. The screen is an estimate.
- Take unpaid leave out of the service you are counting. Those days are not service.
- Multiply. First five years at 21 days of basic wage per year, then 30 days per year.
- If the result is more than two years of wage, stop at two years of wage.
- If service is under one year, the gratuity estimate is zero.
- If you were dismissed for misconduct, or your contract is not a standard full-time one, stop and ask MOHRE. The calculator cannot see that.
Resignation, limited contracts and misconduct
People still repeat the old one-third and two-thirds cuts for a worker who resigns. Under Decree-Law 33 of 2021, a worker who has completed at least a year is generally entitled to the end-of-service benefit even when they resign. That is a change from the previous law. It is also the sort of sentence a camp conversation gets wrong. If someone tells you that resignation means one third, ask them to show you the current law, or ask MOHRE, rather than accepting a memory of the old rule.
Unpaid leave is the other quiet change to the result. If you took months without pay, those days are not counted as service. A five-year anniversary on the calendar can be less than five years of counted service. Misconduct can change the result too. The calculator does not ask why the job ended, because it cannot judge a dismissal. If the employer says you forfeited gratuity, that is a dispute. Keep the contract, the payslips, the Emirates ID and any termination letter, and take them to MOHRE. Do not sign a clearance that says you received the money if you have not.
Limited-term contracts, part-time work and domestic work are not automatically the same sum as a full-time private-sector job. The calculator is built for the usual full-time pattern: 21 days, then 30, daily wage equal to basic divided by 30, zero under one year, and a cap of two years of wage. If your contract says something else on its face, the contract and MOHRE outrank the screen.
What to check before you join
- Find the basic wage in writing. A higher total with a tiny basic is a smaller gratuity later.
- Ask which allowances are really allowances, and which ones the employer might fold into basic. Get the answer on the offer, not in a voice note.
- Do not budget your life on gratuity. It is paid at the end, and only if the rules are met. Monthly rent has to come from wages. The salary converter is the place for that monthly picture.
- Keep every payslip. If basic wage changes, the later calculation has to follow the wage the law uses, and you will want the history.
- When you leave, ask for the end-of-service figure in writing and compare it with the calculator. A gap is a reason to ask MOHRE, not a reason to guess that the website is the court.
Saudi end-of-service is a different law
The same calculator on Apna Ghar can switch to Saudi Arabia, but those riyals are not UAE gratuity. Do not type a Saudi wage into the UAE pattern of 21 days and 30 days. Saudi end-of-service is in the Labour Law. Checked on 9 October 2026, Article 84 is half a month’s wage for each of the first five years, then a full month for each year after that. Article 85 covers resignation: one third of the award after two to five years, two thirds after five to ten years, and the full award after ten years. The one-third starts after a service of not less than two years, so a shorter resignation is outside those fractions.
Article 87 keeps the full award in some cases even when the worker leaves. The exceptions named in that article include force majeure beyond the worker’s control, and a female worker who ends the contract within six months of marriage or within three months of giving birth. The calculator’s resignation button does not apply Article 87 by itself. If one of those cases is yours, read the law and ask the Ministry of Human Resources, and do not accept the lower resignation estimate as the last word. The statute file is the Bureau of Experts download linked below. Wage in that law is not the same sentence as UAE basic wage. Use the definition in the file, not a Gulf rumour.
Nothing on this page is legal advice. MOHRE decides UAE disputes. A calculator estimate that ignores unpaid leave or misconduct will be wrong for that worker even when the day-count looks tidy.
Fees, fines and salary thresholds change. If a number is not written on the official page linked below, treat a WhatsApp figure as unchecked.