UAE End-of-Service Gratuity Calculator
Calculate your statutory gratuity under the UAE Labour Law: 21 days per year for the first 5 years, 30 days per year after, capped at 2 years' basic salary.
Use your basic salary only — exclude housing allowance, transport allowance, and other allowances. Gratuity is calculated on basic salary, not total package.
Total days of unpaid leave taken during employment — these are deducted from your service period.
Enter salary and joining date to see your gratuity.
Gratuity rules at a glance
Know What You're Entitled To
Your end-of-service gratuity can be tens of thousands of dirhams. Know the exact figure before you sign anything.
Current UAE Law
Applies the unified labour law (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, effective Feb 2022): 21 days per year of service for years 1–5, and 30 days per year for service beyond 5 years.
Pro-Rata for Partial Years
If you served less than a full year past the threshold, the remainder is pro-rated at the correct rate — exactly how MOHRE calculates final settlements.
2-Year Cap
The law caps total gratuity at 24 months' basic salary (2 years). For employees with 15+ years of service, this cap kicks in — and the calculator flags when it's applied.
Unpaid Leave Deduction
Unpaid leave days reduce your gratuity-eligible service period. Enter the total unpaid leave you've taken and the calculator adjusts the effective service period.
Full Breakdown
Shows the daily wage, days earned per period, partial-year contribution, and final figure — so you can verify the calculation against your employer's settlement.
100% Private
Everything runs in your browser. Your salary and employment dates are never sent to a server, logged, or stored. Safe to use with real personal data.
Who Uses This Calculator?
Employees, employers, and HR professionals across the UAE.
Employees
Verify your final settlement is correct, or plan a job change knowing exactly what gratuity you'll receive when you leave.
HR Teams
Sanity-check gratuity calculations before issuing settlement letters. Catch payroll system errors before they reach the employee.
Finance
Estimate end-of-service liability across your workforce for cash flow planning and provisioning on the balance sheet.
Legal Advisors
Quickly compute the expected gratuity figure for client matters, before deep-diving into contract-specific variations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is UAE end-of-service gratuity calculated?
For private-sector employees under the UAE Labour Law: for each of the first 5 completed years of service, you get 21 days of your last basic salary. For each year of service beyond 5 years, you get 30 days. Partial years are pro-rated. The total is capped at 24 months' basic salary. So an employee on AED 10,000 basic salary leaving after 8 years would get: (5 × 21 + 3 × 30) days × (10,000 ÷ 30) = 65,000 AED.
Is gratuity calculated on basic salary or total package?
Basic salary only. Housing allowance, transport allowance, schooling allowance, utility allowance, and any other allowances are excluded. This is a critical distinction — your gratuity may be much smaller than you expect if your “basic” on your contract is low and most of your package is in allowances. Check the basic figure on your contract and on your payslip.
Do I get gratuity if I resign before 5 years?
Yes — under the unified UAE Labour Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, effective Feb 2022), any employee who completes at least 1 year of continuous service is entitled to full gratuity, regardless of how the contract ends. Under the previous (pre-2022) rules, resignation from an unlimited contract before 5 years resulted in reduced gratuity (1/3 for 1–3 years of service, 2/3 for 3–5 years). The new law removed those deductions for most employees.
What if I have less than 1 year of service?
No gratuity. The 1-year minimum service requirement is a strict eligibility threshold under UAE Labour Law. You still receive any unpaid salary, unused annual leave, and notice pay — but no gratuity.
What is the maximum gratuity I can receive?
Two years' basic salary, i.e. 24 months. So if your basic salary is AED 20,000, the absolute maximum gratuity you can receive is AED 480,000 — regardless of how long you stayed. For very long-tenured employees (typically 15+ years), this cap kicks in and the calculator flags when it applies.
Does this apply to free zone employees?
Generally yes for free zones operating under the mainland labour law (most). DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre) and ADGM (Abu Dhabi Global Market) have their own employment regimes — DIFC follows a similar 21/30-day model under DIFC Employment Law, ADGM uses ADGM Employment Regulations 2019. For free zones operating under the unified federal law, this calculator's output applies. Always confirm with your contract and HR.
Does this apply to domestic workers?
No. Domestic workers (housekeepers, drivers, gardeners working in private households) are covered by Federal Law No. 10 of 2017 on Domestic Workers, not the mainland UAE Labour Law. Their gratuity entitlement is different — generally 14 days' basic salary per year. This calculator is for private-sector employees under the mainland labour law only.
What if my employer pays into a savings scheme (DEWS, etc.)?
Some employers (particularly in DIFC) have moved gratuity into a funded savings scheme — the DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) plan, for example. In these schemes, your employer contributes monthly to your individual investment account in lieu of a final lump-sum gratuity. The total contributions over your service period should be at least equivalent to the statutory gratuity. Check your scheme statements for the current balance, which replaces the figure this calculator produces.
Is this a legal calculation I can rely on?
It's a careful implementation of the statutory formula and produces correct figures for the standard case. It does not account for contract-specific variations, dual contracts, secondment arrangements, disciplinary deductions, garnishments, housing-loan offsets, or specialised industry rules. For disputes, formal complaints to MOHRE, or legally binding settlements, consult a UAE-qualified employment lawyer or HR consultant.
Understanding UAE End-of-Service Gratuity
End-of-service gratuity (EOSB — End of Service Benefit) is the UAE's statutory severance payment to private-sector employees who leave their job after at least one year of service. It functions partly as compensation for the lack of a state pension for expatriates and partly as a long-service reward. Because the UAE has no income tax, the gratuity arrives net of deductions — it's yours in full once paid.
The Formula in Detail
The 2022 unified law sets the calculation as follows:
- For each year of the first 5 years of service: 21 days of basic salary.
- For each year beyond 5 years: 30 days of basic salary.
- Partial year contribution: the fraction of a year served beyond complete years is pro-rated at the rate applicable to that period (21 days/year if you're still in years 1–5, 30 days/year if you're past year 5).
- Daily wage: basic monthly salary ÷ 30 (regardless of the actual number of working days in the month).
- Cap: total gratuity may not exceed 24 months' basic salary (= 2 years' basic pay) — typically only relevant after about 15 years of service.
Worked Example
An employee with a basic monthly salary of AED 12,000 who has worked for 7 years and 4 months would calculate as follows:
- Daily wage: 12,000 ÷ 30 = AED 400
- First 5 years: 5 × 21 = 105 days
- Years 6 and 7: 2 × 30 = 60 days
- Partial year (4 months ≈ 0.333 years at 30 days/year rate): 0.333 × 30 ≈ 10 days
- Total days: 105 + 60 + 10 = 175 days
- Gratuity: 175 × 400 = AED 70,000
This worked example matches what this calculator produces and what a correctly-functioning UAE payroll system would output.
What Counts as “Basic Salary”
The single most important distinction in UAE compensation is between “basic salary” and “total package”. Many UAE employment contracts structure compensation as roughly 40–60% basic salary with the remainder paid as housing allowance, transport allowance, schooling allowance, and so on. Gratuity is calculated on the basic figure only — so two employees earning the same total package can have very different gratuity entitlements depending on how the contract was structured.
Before resigning or taking a job offer, look carefully at the basic salary line on your contract and on your most recent payslip. If you've been promoted and not had a contract amendment, your basic salary may not have moved — and your gratuity calculation uses the contractual basic figure.
2022 Reform — What Changed
Before February 2022, the UAE had two parallel labour contract types: limited (fixed-term) and unlimited (open-ended). They had different rules for gratuity, particularly when an employee resigned. Resigning from an unlimited contract before 5 years used to result in a sharply reduced gratuity: 1/3 for 1–3 years of service, 2/3 for 3–5 years.
Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (in force from February 2022) eliminated the unlimited contract entirely and unified treatment under fixed-term contracts. Importantly, it also removed the resignation deductions — any employee who completes at least 1 year is now entitled to full gratuity regardless of how the contract ends.
This calculator applies the post-2022 unified rules. If your employment ended before February 2022 and you signed an unlimited contract, the legacy rules may have applied to your case — though employers had a 1-year transition window to align all contracts with the new law, so most employment terminations from 2023 onwards use the unified rules.
What This Calculator Does Not Cover
Several scenarios require specialist advice rather than a calculator:
- Termination for cause — if your employer terminates you for misconduct under Article 44 of the labour law, gratuity can be forfeited entirely. Disputes about whether termination was lawful require legal advice.
- Salary changes during employment — the gratuity is calculated on your last basic salary, but if salary changed dramatically during employment there are nuances around treatment.
- Dual contracts or secondment — employees seconded between group companies have complex rules about continuity of service.
- DEWS and similar schemes — covered above; if you're in a funded scheme, this calculator is a sanity check on what your scheme balance should be, not a direct entitlement.
- Government employees — federal and emirate-level public sector employees have separate pension rules entirely (GPSSA, ADRPBF) and don't fall under the labour law gratuity at all.
For any of these, consult a UAE-qualified employment lawyer or HR consultant.
Practical Tips Before You Leave
Confirm your basic salary figure. Get a payslip showing the current basic salary and check it against your contract. If there's a discrepancy, ask HR to issue a contract amendment before your last working day.
Reconcile your unpaid leave. Unpaid leave reduces your effective service period for gratuity. Get the figure from HR before your final settlement.
Check for housing loan deductions. Many UAE employers offer interest-free housing loans recoverable against gratuity. If you have one outstanding, that's deducted from your final payment — make sure the figure matches what you actually borrowed.
Time your departure. If you're close to a year milestone — say, 4 years and 10 months — staying an extra 2 months can shift you from the 21-day bracket to the 30-day bracket on the next year of service, which compounds over the rest of your tenure. Run the numbers both ways.
Get your final settlement in writing. Before signing the gratuity acceptance letter, compare the employer's figure to your own calculation. If they differ, request a written breakdown showing the daily wage used, the days per year applied, any deductions, and the final figure.