UAE labour law · updated 2026
Work out your leave salary, the cash you are owed for annual leave you did not take. Enter your basic salary and your unused days, and see the figure in AED.
Any annual leave you have not taken is paid out in cash when you leave, and it is worked on your basic salary.
This is an estimate based on UAE Labour Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021). For educational purposes only. Consult a licensed UAE advisor for your specific situation.
Last reviewed: October 2026
Six plain English answers to the questions people ask most about unused leave.
01
Leave salary is the money paid for annual leave you did not use.
When your job ends, any leave days you were entitled to but never took are paid out in cash. It sits as a separate line from your gratuity, and it is your right, not a bonus.
The sum is simple. Take your basic salary, divide it by thirty for a daily figure, and multiply that by the number of unused days.
02
A full year of service earns at least 30 days of annual leave. Between six months and one year, you earn 2 days a month.
To check how many days you have earned and have left, use our annual leave calculator. This page then turns those days into money.
03
For unused leave paid at the end, only your basic salary is used.
This is an important detail that people miss. While you are employed and take your leave normally, it is paid on your full wage including allowances. The cash paid for an unused balance when you leave is worked on basic salary alone.
So if allowances are a large part of your package, the payout can look smaller than a normal paid leave month. That is the law, set out in Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021.
04
Your employer or HR system holds your leave balance.
Your HR system or latest payslip usually shows it. To check the figure yourself, enter your start date and the leave you have taken into our annual leave calculator.
Then enter that number of days here to see what it is worth.
05
Leave salary is settled with the rest of your end of service money.
That includes your final salary, notice pay if any, and your gratuity, and it should arrive within the same window as those dues after your last working day.
Check the breakdown line by line. If the unused days or the daily figure look wrong, question it before you sign anything off.
06
Leave salary, sometimes called leave encashment, is the cash value of the paid annual leave you did not take.
Under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, full time employees are entitled to 30 days of annual leave for each year of service once they have completed one year, and to 2 days per month of service for the period between six months and one year. The cash value of your unused leave days is worked out on your basic salary only, not your total package. The daily rate is your basic salary divided by 30, multiplied by the number of unused leave days owed to you. Public holidays and weekly rest days are separate and are not counted as annual leave.