Guide · 8 min read · free tool
UAE Gratuity: 21 Days, Then 30, and a Basic Salary That Is Not Your Package
Sep 10, 2026 · Zelpura Editorial · All guides
End-of-service gratuity in the UAE is one of those numbers people quote at dinners and mis-compute in the same sentence. The common sketch, which this page uses, is 21 days of basic salary for each of the first five years, and 30 days of basic salary for each year after that. The fight is almost never the 21. The fight is what 'basic' means, and whether the years were the years you think. Allowances, a title that changed, a limited contract versus an unlimited one, and a resignation versus a termination can all move a real entitlement away from a four-field sketch. Use the sketch to see the shape. Use the contract, and a qualified person, before you spend the shape.
The inputs are the job, not a formality. You enter basic salary in dirhams and years of service. A contract-type dropdown is on the page, but this sketch does not change the dirham total when you flip limited and unlimited. Treat that dropdown as a reminder, not as a calculation. Basic salary is not the cost-to-company number in the offer letter if that number includes housing, transport, or a discretionary bonus. If you type the package, you will inflate the gratuity and then feel robbed when HR uses the basic. Years should be the service that counts under the rules that apply to you, not the years you have lived in the country. A six-month gap, a visa change, or a transfer between entities can break a total you were adding on your fingers. The contract-type field is a reminder that resignation and termination have not always been treated the same. Do not let a dropdown replace the decree that applies to your dates.
A basic salary of 15,000 dirhams and 7 years. The first five years are 21/30 of a month each, which is 15,000 times 21/30 times 5. The remaining two years are a full month each, 15,000 times 2. The page adds those and shows a dirham total and a rough dollar translation at a fixed 0.272, which is a sketch of the peg, not a bank's Thursday rate. If your basic is actually 9,000 and the rest is allowance, rerun it. The difference is not a rounding error. It is the difference between a departure plan and a disappointment. Run both numbers and ask HR which salary they will use, in writing, before you resign in order to 'get the gratuity.'
The miss is typing total salary. The second miss is assuming every year counts at the full rate from day one. The third miss is spending the estimate. Gratuity can be affected by unpaid loans to the company, by notice you did not serve, and by rules that changed for contracts signed in different years. A blog cannot know your file. People also forget that a gratuity conversation and a visa conversation are related in life even when they are separate in a calculator. Do not book flights on a number you have not seen on company letterhead.
Find the basic on the wage statement, not on the offer's first page. Count the years the way the contract counts them. Run the page. Then ask HR to confirm the basis in writing if you are within a season of leaving. If they refuse, that is information. Compare the result to a Saudi, Qatar or Oman sketch on the other Gulf page only as a curiosity. Those are different laws. A higher sketch in another country is not a negotiation point with your UAE employer. It is a different life.
This is an educational sketch of a widely described formula. It is not legal advice, not a Ministry determination, and not a calculation of your personal entitlement. UAE end-of-service rules have changed over time, and limited versus unlimited contracts, resignation, and termination have specific consequences this page does not fully encode. Allowances may or may not be included depending on the contract and the law that applies. If the sum is large, or you are in a dispute, talk to a qualified UAE employment lawyer or the relevant government channel. Do not resign based on a website.
Save the wage statement that shows basic, the start date, and this page's result in one folder. When the company number arrives, you want to see the gap immediately. A gap means a different basic, a different year count, or a deduction. Ask which. Polite and specific beats angry and vague. If you are paid through a currency conversion on the way home, the dirham figure is the entitlement conversation and the Wise or Payoneer figure is a second conversation. Do not mix them. Mixing them is how a fair gratuity feels small, or a small one feels like a forex conspiracy.
Read the result back before you act. Say basic, not package. Say the year split, not 'a month per year.' If you cannot, you are about to argue with HR using a dinner-party version of the law.
Notice period pay, unused leave, and gratuity are different lines. A calculator that shows gratuity has not paid your leave. Ask for the settlement breakdown as lines. A single 'final settlement' number that you cannot recompute is a number you cannot check. Checking is allowed. It is also easier before you sign a release than after.
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