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

In some cases, an employer may allow an employee to take their yearly leave once every two years

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.

Additionally, the maximum number of annual leave days an employee can take depends on different situations. Typically, an employee is entitled to 30 calendar days of annual leave per year, which can be taken either all at once or in intervals. In some cases, the employer may allow an employee to take their annual leave once every two years instead. This is in accordance with Article 29(8) of the Employment Law.

Furthermore, an employee may be entitled to payment of annual leave not availed on the basis of basic salary. This is in accordance with Article 29 (9) of the Employment Law, which states, “An employee shall be entitled to be paid for his days of leave if he leaves the work before the use thereof, irrespective of the length thereof, for the period for which he did not use his leave. The employee shall be entitled to the leave pay for the fractions of the year in proportion to the period of service, and the same is calculated on the basis of the basic wage."

Ashish Mehta is the founder and Managing Partner of Ashish Mehta & Associates. He is qualified to practise law in Dubai, the United Kingdom and India. Full details of his firm on: www.amalawyers.com. Readers may e-mail their questions to: news@khaleejtimes.com or send them to Legal View, Khaleej Times, PO Box 11243, Dubai.

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