How the calculator works
Under Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, a full-time foreign worker who has completed at least one year of continuous service is entitled to a gratuity. It is based on the basic wage: 21 days of wage for each of the first five years of service and 30 days of wage for each year after the fifth. A part of a year counts in proportion, once the first full year has been completed, and days of unpaid absence are not counted as service. Article 51 also puts a ceiling on the total at two years of wage.
This calculator takes the dates you enter, removes unpaid absence, turns the remaining service into years and applies those day rates to a daily wage. The current law does not distinguish between limited and unlimited contracts, and it contains no reduction for resignation, so the same formula is used. Employers must pay all entitlements within 14 days of the end of the contract.
Assumptions you should know about
- Daily wage: the law counts days of wage. The tool divides the monthly basic wage by 30, which is the usual working convention.
- The cap: the article says the total may not exceed "two years' wage". The tool applies it to 24 months of basic wage. The article does not say which wage the cap refers to, so check this if your result reaches the cap.
- Part-time and job-sharing: the gratuity is pro-rated by contracted hours compared with full-time hours, as set by the Executive Regulations.
- Temporary work: no gratuity applies to temporary employment shorter than one year.
- Flexible work and savings schemes: no separate rule for flexible workers was found in the official texts, and employers in an approved savings scheme follow that scheme instead. The tool does not cover either case.
- UAE nationals follow the pension and social security legislation, not this formula.
Deductions that the law allows, for example amounts owed to the employer under a judgment, are not included. Your result is an estimate, not a settlement figure.