UAE Working Hours & Leaves - What is life if full of care, no time to stand & stare
Working Hours in the UAE
Working hours & Overtime in the UAE - image showing a laptop with the time 6:25pm
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There is a lot of misunderstanding around working hours in the UAE, as well as around leave.
Working hours are maximum of 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week (either of which the employer can avail). The way it works out is, if the employer has a 5-day week, the hours are longer, and can be up to 9.5 hours per day (excluding breaks), which totals up to 48 hours a week. While if the work week is a 6-day week, then the hours can’t be as high per day, considering they still can’t exceed 48 hours. Break is not counted in the working hours, and every person is entitled to an-hour’s break every working day. Many people interpret it as a lunch break, but actually that one hour is supposed to be an accumulation of all the breaks of the day.
No one should be working for more than 5 consecutive hours without a break.
Minimum of one day off-day per week is a minimum.
As always, employers can choose to give better rights to employees, with some companies having 8 hours a day, but they can change it at any time and adjust it in a way that touches the 48 hours per week threshold.
Some industries can avail an exception for additional hours, by taking permissions from the government, e.g. hospitality, security industry.
Overtime in the UAE
Overtime is possible, up to 2 hours a day, as long as it does not exceed 144 hours in 3 weeks. If the person is in a supervisory or managerial position, no overtime is paid. This usually goes beyond people having a team, to most office jobs.
The overtime calculations are based on when the overtime was done, during the day, at night, or over weekends or public holidays:
Normal hours: 125% (normal + 25%)
During 10pm to 4am: 150% (normal + 50%)
Public holidays/weekend: 150% (normal + 50%)
The above is calculated based on basic salary, which goes back to the point about why the salary is structured as basic plus allowances in the UAE.
Ramadan Hours in the UAE
During Ramadan, the private sector reduces working hours by 2 hours. A lot of time it is misunderstood as 6 hours or half day working, but technically it is 2 hours reduced from the normal working hours. If normally it’s 9 hours, they will have 7. If normally it’s 8 hours, they will have 6.
Also, for people who are not fasting and taking a lunch break or otherwise, the hours will be calculated excluding the break.
So, let’s say an organization normally has 8:30am to 5:30pm including break (which means 8 hours working). During Ramadan they would work 6 hours, which means 8:30am to 2:30pm for the ones fasting and not taking a break, and 8:30am to 3:30pm for the ones not fasting and taking a lunch/other breaks.
It is common practice for the working hours to stretch due to business and operational demands.
Types of Leave in the UAE
Annual Leave in the UAE
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Annual Leave in the UAE
Minimum is 30 calendar days (counting weekends/public holidays falling in between), and many companies give 22 working days (not counting weekends/public holidays falling in between) which works out to be roughly the same, but the second option works out better in terms of flexibility especially while travelling. For example, if someone travels on a Wednesday night and comes back the following Wednesday, the first model means Saturday and Sunday falling in between will not be counted, while the second model means they will go waste, hence the employee will try to travel only on weekends when the tickets might be more expensive.
22 working days is on the presumption of 5 working days, otherwise it goes higher.
When the employment is more than six months but less than a year, the leave is 2 days for each month (equivalent for working days is around 1.8 days).
During probation, annual leave is usually restricted, with some exceptional situations or pre-planned leave.
Sick Leave in the UAE
15 days paid. Most companies have the policy that for more than a certain number of consecutive days or more than a certain number of separate days or clubbed with the weekend, a medical certificate is required. For example, they might say that two days consecutive or 5 days separate or a Monday (with the weekend) triggers a medical certificate requirement.
This is usually to prevent misuse. Medical certificate costs between AED 60 and AED 100. However, requiring a medical certificate for a short duration does not make sense, since for the flu most people don’t need to go to the doctor, rest is what aids recovery.
After that, thirty days are on half-pay. The subsequent period unpaid (maximum of 90 days, including all three categories).
Some companies restrict paid sick days during probation, some companies do give that entitlement.
Maternity Leave in the UAE
45 days with full wage + 15 days with half-wage – can start from a month earlier.
In case of loss of child after six months (whether born dead or death after birth), the same maternity leave applies.
1 hour feeding break for up to six months.
Additional unpaid leave allowed due to sickness of baby certified by a medical professional.
Parental Leave in the UAE
5 days (available for both father and mother) – available within 6 months of child-birth.
Bereavement/Compassionate Leave in the UAE
5 days for spouse, 3 days for other close relatives like mother, father, son, brother, sister, grandson, grandfather or grandmother.
Starts from the date of the death.
Not clear what happens if the employee travels on the subsequent day, if the day gets reduced accordingly.
Notice period for termination cannot start during leave, whether it’s an employer triggered termination or an employee triggered resignation.
Encashment and Carry forward of annual leave in the UAE
The practices relating to encashment and carry forward are a bit tricky.
The law says the employer cannot prevent the employee from using their annual leave for more than 2 years, unless the employee wishes to carry it forward or receive a cash allowance. While the law allows up to half of carry forward (or receive the cash equivalent in alignment with the employer), in practice, the following models exist:
(i) Many companies allow carry forward to a certain limit (e.g. 5 or 7 days) to be used by the subsequent quarter (i.e. quarter 1 of the next year). This is also changed at times sometimes due to financial situation where they don’t want to carry forward liability on the books.
(ii) Many don’t allow any carry forward or encashment at all, which means the leave has to be used in that particular year, or it lapses.
(iii) Some allow carry forward up to a certain number of days, e.g. 20/25/35. This is the total carry forward, over a number of years. For example, if someone has worked in a company for 7 years, they would usually accumulate this slowly. In case this carry forward is allowed in the first year itself, that means the company’s policies are more generous than the 15 days carry forward stipulated by the laws.
(iv) Some make encashment happen at the end of the same year, to enable encashment at the current salary, rather than a future increased salary.
The one who don’t allow carry forward or limited cases of carry forward, have practices and controls in place to send reminders to employees to take leave and encourage breaks. This acts as their risk mitigation.
These kinds of situations are usually tested in the court when someone challenges them.
If the exit happens during the year (before end of the year), then the employee is entitled to be paid for the pro-rated leave accrued and not used until that date. Same for the places which allow carry forward, since those leaves have not expired. But this is as per the basic wage, while again the employer can choose to give more, which many do.
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