UAE Annual Leave 2026: An Employer's Guide

Leave is one of those obligations that looks simple until you have to administer it across a real team. Someone joins in March and wants two weeks off in August. A long-serving employee has built up a balance no one tracked. A resignation lands and payroll has to settle the unused days correctly. Get UAE annual leaveright and none of this is hard; get it wrong and you have a payroll error, a frustrated employee, or a claim you could have avoided. This guide sets out what the law requires, how leave actually works in practice, and the public holidays to build yourcalendar around.

It is written for founders and HR or payroll leaders who would rather plan ahead than firefight. We cover statutory entitlement, how leave accrues, carry-over and encashment, the rules during probation, what happens on termination, and the official UAE public holidays— with a clear note on which dates depend on the moon sighting.

A note before we begin: this is general information, not legal advice. Leave entitlements interact with your specific contracts, your free zone or onshore status, and your obligations under UAE law — so confirm the specifics with a qualified adviser or MOHRE before you act on any individual case.

Statutory annual leave entitlement under UAE law

The framework for the private sector onshore is Federal Decree-Law No.ofon the Regulation of Labour Relations and its Executive Regulations, administered by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE). Articlesets the statutory floor for annual leave, and it is worth knowing precisely.

The annual leave entitlement UAE law guarantees works on a sliding scale tied to length of service:

• After one year of service — a fully paid annual leave of 30 calendar days per year.

• Between six months and one year of service — two days of leave for each month worked.

• Less than six months — no statutory entitlement accrues during this initial period.

Two details catch employers out. First, thedays are calendar days, not working days — so weekends and rest days falling inside a leave period count towards the entitlement, unless your own policy is more generous. Second, these are minimums. You are free to offer a more generous scheme, and many employers do, but you cannot contract below the statutory floor. A clause that purports to give less than the law requires is simply unenforceable to that extent.

Public holidays are a separate entitlement and sit on top of annual leave — an employee does not "spend" an annual leave day on a gazetted public holiday. We come to theholiday calendar below.

For the wider statutory picture this sits within, our guide to the UAE labour law changes employers should plan for in 2026 sets the context, and our complete HR compliance checklist for UAE employers helps you confirm nothing has been missed.

How leave accrues, carries over and is encashed

Knowing the headline number is the easy part. The questions that generate friction are about accrual, balances and money.

Accrual. Once an employee passes six months of service, leave begins to accrue at two days per month until they complete a year, after which the 30-day annual entitlement applies. In practice most employers run a monthly accrual on the payroll system so a balance is always visible — both for planning and for the day someone leaves.

Scheduling and employer say. Leave is a right, but the timing is a shared decision. The employer may set the dates of annual leave according to the needs of the business, and is expected to give the employee reasonable notice. The sensible reading is collaborative: employees request, the business confirms against operational need. What you cannot do is indefinitely refuse leave or let balances run away unmanaged.

Carry-over. Under the UAE leave law, an employee may carry forward unused annual leave where the employer agrees, with the Executive Regulations contemplating carry-over of up to half the annual entitlement into the following year. The cleaner approach is to discourage large unused balances building up in the first place, through active scheduling, rather than to rely on carry-over as a default.

Encashment during employment. Where leave is carried over, the employee and employer may agree that the unused days are paid in cash instead, calculated on the wage applicable at the time the leave fell due. This must be by agreement — encashment is not something either side can simply impose for in-service leave.

Why this matters for cash flow and records. Untracked leave is a hidden liability. Every unused day an employee has accrued is, in effect, money the business may owe. A clean, monthly-updated leave ledger turns a vague exposure into a known number — which makes both your management accounts and your eventual settlements honest.

Leave during probation

Probation is the period most often misunderstood. Under Federal Decree-Law No.of 2021, the probationary period may not exceed six months. During those first six months, no statutory annual leave entitlement accrues — the two-days-per-month accrual begins once the employee has completed six months of continuous service.

That does not mean an employee on probation can never take time off. The employer may, by agreement, allow the employee to take leave drawn against their future or accruing balance. The point is that it is discretionary and consensual during this window, not an automatic right. Set your position out clearly in the contract and the handbook so expectations are aligned from day one — our guide to building a UAE employee handbook, with template shows where leave and probation provisions sit within the wider document.

Leave on termination and encashment basics

When the employment relationship ends, any accrued but untaken annual leave must be paid out. This is one of the firmer points in the law: an employee is entitled to be paid for the leave days they have accrued and not used, whatever the reason for leaving and however short the outstanding period.

Two practical points govern the calculation:

• It covers the full accrued balance to the last working day — including the pro-rated entitlement for a partial final year, on the two-days-per-month basis for service beyond six months.

• The basis of the encashment payment is the employee's basic wage, applied to the outstanding leave days. This differs from leave taken in service, which is paid on the full wage — a distinction payroll should apply correctly to avoid both under- and over-payment.

Leave encashment is one part of the final settlement, which also includes end-of-service gratuity and any other dues. Because the two are settled together and both turn on getting service and wage figures right, it pays to model them properly before someone leaves rather than scrambling at the end. Our end-of-service gratuity calculator is a straightforward way to estimate the gratuity side of the settlement.

The official UAE public holidays 2026

Public holidays in the UAE are set by Cabinet resolution and, helpfully for employers, the same days apply to both the public and private sectors — the alignment that existed in earlier years continues. Employees are entitled to these days as paid holidays. Where the nature of the work requires an employee to work on a public holiday, the law provides for compensation by way of a substitute day off or an uplift on pay for that day.

The fixed-date (Gregorian) holidays forare confirmed. The Islamic holidays follow the Hijri calendar and depend on the official moon sighting, so the dates below are expected and subject to official confirmation by the authorities, usually only days before. Treat the Islamic dates as planning estimates, not gazetted certainties.

The official UAE public holidays 2026, by current expectation:

• New Year's Day — ThursdayJanuary(fixed).

• Eid Al Fitr — expected around 20–22 March 2026, typically including the final day of Ramadan (Ramadan 29) running into the early days of Shawwal (subject to moon sighting and official confirmation).

• Arafat Day and Eid Al Adha — Arafat Day expected on or aroundMay 2026, followed by Eid Al Adha from on or aroundMay 2026, commonly a multi-day holiday (subject to moon sighting and official confirmation).

• Hijri New Year (Islamic New Year) — expected on or aroundJune(subject to moon sighting and official confirmation).

• Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) birthday — expected on or aroundAugust(subject to moon sighting and official confirmation).

• Commemoration Day and National Day — Commemoration Day is observed onDecember, with UAE National Day on 2–3 December(fixed). The wreath-laying and remembrance of Commemoration Day are marked onNovember.

A few cautions. The exact number of days granted for each Eid, and whether a holiday is shifted to bridge a weekend, is confirmed by the Cabinet each year — so wait for the official announcement before finalising long weekends. Always cross-check against the authoritative source: the UAE Government's official public holidays page on u.ae. And remember that during the holy month of Ramadan, statutory working hours are reduced for the private sector — that is a working-hours rule rather than a leave entitlement, but it belongs in the same annual planning conversation.

Practical leave-management tips for employers

The law tells you what you owe. Good management is what keeps leave from becoming a recurring headache. A few habits pay for themselves.

Plan around the peaks. Eid Al Fitr, Eid Al Adha and the summer school break drive predictable surges in leave requests. Map them at the start of the year, decide minimum coverage for each team, and open requests early so you can resolve clashes fairly rather than first-come-first-served under pressure.

Be deliberate about Ramadan. With reduced hours and a different rhythm to the working day, plan workload and coverage in advance, and accommodate prayer times and flexibility with good grace. Treat it as a known feature of the UAE calendar to plan well, not a disruption to absorb.

Keep one source of truth for balances. Whether through HR software or a disciplined spreadsheet, maintain a single, current record of entitlement, days taken and balance for every employee. It prevents disputes, exposes hidden liability, and makes final settlements quick and correct.

Set a clear, written policy — and apply it evenly. Spell out how leave is requested and approved, notice periods, carry-over rules, encashment, and what happens during probation. Then administer it consistently. Most leave disputes are not about the law; they are about one person feeling treated differently from another.

Don't let balances run away. Encourage people to take their leave within the year. Large unused balances are bad for wellbeing, bad for cover, and a growing liability on your books.

If you are not certain your current leave practices match what the law requires, a structured HR audit is the most efficient way to surface the gaps — in policy, in records, and in payroll calculations — before they turn into claims.

Frequently asked questions

How many annual leave days are employees entitled to in the UAE in 2026? Under Federal Decree-Law No.of 2021, an employee who has completed one year of service is entitled tocalendar days of paid annual leave per year. Between six months and one year of service, the entitlement is two days for each month worked. These are statutory minimums; employers may offer more.

Are thedays working days or calendar days? Calendar days. Weekends and rest days that fall within a period of annual leave count towards the 30-day entitlement, unless your own contract or policy is more generous and treats them otherwise.

Can unused annual leave be carried over or encashed in the UAE? Yes, within limits. Unused leave may be carried into the following year where the employer agrees, broadly up to half the annual entitlement, or the parties may agree to encash the unused days at the wage applicable when the leave fell due. On termination, accrued but untaken leave must be paid out, calculated on the basic wage.

Do employees get annual leave during probation? No statutory annual leave accrues during the first six months of service. Accrual at two days per month begins once six months are completed. An employer may, by agreement, allow an employee to take leave against their accruing balance during probation, but it is discretionary rather than an automatic right.

Are UAE public holidays the same for the private and public sectors in 2026? Yes. Public holidays are set by Cabinet resolution and apply to both the public and private sectors. Islamic holiday dates depend on the official moon sighting and are confirmed shortly before they fall, so treat the expecteddates as planning estimates until the official announcement.

Get your leave framework right

Annual leave is rarely the thing that brings an employer down — but it is exactly the kind of routine obligation where small, repeated errors quietly accumulate into liability and ill feeling. Clear entitlements, an honest leave ledger, a fair scheduling process, and correct settlements on exit are not difficult to maintain once they are set up properly. The work is in setting them up.

If you would like a second set of eyes on your leave policy, your records, or your payroll calculations — or a framework built from the ground up — book a diagnostic with Element. We will look at where you are, what UAE law requires, and the shortest route to a leave framework you can stand behind.

Sources

• UAE Government (u.ae) — Public holidays page (official public and private sector holidays): https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/public-holidays-and-religious-affairs/public-holidays

• MOHRE — Federal Decree-Law No.ofon the Regulation of Labour Relations and its Executive Regulations (Article 29, annual leave; probation; termination dues).

• UAE Cabinet resolution on public holidays for the public and private sectors (alignment of sector holidays; annual confirmation of Eid days).

• Note: Islamic (Hijri) holiday dates forare expected and subject to official confirmation following the moon sighting.