Annual leave in UAE: How many days you can take, carry forward; all you need to know

Question: I work for a mainland company and I'm curious about the rules regarding annual leave. Is there a requirement that a certain number of leave days must be used each year? If I don't use all my leave, will the remaining days expire, or can they be converted into payment? Could you explain how annual leave works and what the regulations are?

Answer: An employee is entitled to 30 days of annual leave for each completed year of service with an employer. This is in accordance with Article 29(1)(a) of the Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations, which states, "Without prejudice to the rights accruing to the employee prior to the entry into force of this Decree-Law, the employee shall be entitled to a paid annual leave of not less than 30 (thirty) days a year for each year of service.”

Additionally, an employee may only carry forward 15 days of annual leave to the following year. This is in accordance with Article 19 of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 on the Implementation of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 Regarding the Regulation of Employment Relations which states, “Subject to the provisions of clauses (8) and (9) of Article 29 of the Employment Law:

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1. The employee may carry forward not more than half of the annual leave to the following year, or he may agree with the employer to receive a cash allowance thereof, according to the salary he receives at the time of his entitlement to leave.

2. If the employee’s service ends, he shall be paid a cash allowance for the balance of his legally due annual leave, according to the basic salary.”

An annual leave of an employee becomes due on completion of each year of service. If an employee has not taken his/her annual leave, as per the aforementioned provision of Article 19 (1) of the Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, he/she may request and agree with his/her employer to receive cash compensation instead. Therefore, the employer may pay in lieu of annual leave not availed may be paid by an employer to an employee on completion of each year of service or as agreed between employer and employee.

The approval of annual leave is at the employer's discretion. The employer can decide whether an employee can take all 30 calendar days of annual leave at once or split it into different intervals depending on the company's HR policy.

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