UAE End of Service Gratuity Calculator
Your employer has handed you a final settlement figure and you have no way of telling whether it is right. That is the usual reason people look for a gratuity calculator, and it is a reasonable thing to want before you sign anything.
Put your own numbers in
This is an estimate from the numbers you typed, not a statement of your entitlement. It applies the federal labour law only. If you are employed in the DIFC or the ADGM, neither is covered here: the DIFC has paid into a qualifying savings scheme rather than a gratuity since February 2020, and the ADGM has no cap and its own rules on basic wage.
It also assumes your basic wage and dates are the ones on the registered contract. If the employer’s figure is well below this, ask for the calculation in writing, line by line, before you sign anything. We can check a settlement against your contract: send us the details.
What you will need to hand
Most are on your employment contract and your payslips. Find them first, because an estimate built on a guessed number is not worth much.
Your start date, as recorded on the employment contract registered with MOHRE
Your last working day, including any notice period you actually worked
Your wage as stated in your contract, with the split between basic pay and allowances if your contract separates them
Any unpaid leave or break in service during your employment
Whether you are employed under the federal labour law, or under DIFC or ADGM rules
The result is an estimate, not legal advice
The figure this page produces is an estimate generated from the numbers you type in. It is not a statement of your legal entitlement, it is not advice on your situation, and it should not be the only thing you rely on when deciding whether to accept a settlement.
We publish it because a second number is better than none, not because it replaces reading your contract. If the amount matters, have it checked against your documents before you sign a release or a final settlement.
Why a real entitlement often differs from an estimate
A calculator works from six or seven inputs. A real entitlement works from your file. These are the things that move the number in practice.
The wage figure is not the one people expect
Employees think of their salary as the total that lands in the bank. The calculation uses a defined figure from your pay, and which elements count is set by law rather than by what your employer chooses to call them. A package split heavily into allowances often produces a very different result.
Your registered contract may not match your copy
The contract registered with MOHRE is not always identical to the one in your drawer, and where they differ the registered version usually carries the weight. Ask for a copy early. Employees are regularly surprised by the start date or wage figure filed in their name.
Resigning does not reduce it, whatever you have read
This is the single most repeated piece of out of date information about UAE gratuity. Under the old Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, an employee who resigned before five years lost a third or two thirds of the entitlement. That law was abrogated in full by Article 73 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Article 51, which sets the calculation, draws no distinction at all between resigning and being dismissed, and there is no successor to the old reduction. What does still change the number is what counts as continuous service. Article 51(4) keeps unpaid days of absence out of the service term, and unpaid leave is excluded again by Article 33. A gap between contracts breaks continuity, while a renewal and a change in the employer’s legal form do not.
Deductions the employer has applied
Deductions are permitted only in defined circumstances and within limits. A deduction for training costs, for a disputed debt or as a penalty for resigning is worth questioning. Ask for the calculation in writing, line by line. A single lump sum with nothing behind it is the most common way an underpayment goes unnoticed.
Free zones, the DIFC and the ADGM
Most free zone employees fall under the federal labour law. The DIFC and the ADGM do not. Each has its own employment law and courts, and end of service is handled differently, so a federal estimate will not describe your position.
Unpaid salary sitting behind the gratuity
Gratuity is often not the only thing outstanding. Where there is unpaid salary in Dubai as well, the two are normally pursued together, and the total claim looks different from the gratuity figure alone.
Which emirate you worked in
The federal labour law applies across all seven emirates, so people searching for gratuity law in Abu Dhabi are looking at the same entitlement that applies in Dubai. What differs is the MOHRE office and the court that would handle a dispute, not the calculation.
If your employer disputes the figure
If the offer is well below your estimate and the employer will not explain the difference, raise that gap in writing before you sign anything.
A labour complaint to MOHRE is free and you do not need a lawyer to make one. Advice is worth taking where the sum is significant, where the employer disputes the figures, or where you have already left the country. Our page on unpaid salary and end of service gratuity explains how a claim moves from MOHRE to the labour court, and our employment and labour lawyers in Dubai page covers the wider employment work.
To have a settlement figure checked against your contract, send it to us on +971 50 747 9570 or help@lawyerindubai.ae, or use the form on our contact page.
Tell us what happened
Ten minutes, no charge, and a straight answer about whether you need a lawyer for this.