Employing young workers in the United Arab Emirates
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Young workers in the UAE can be employed lawfully from the age of 15, subject to specific protections around working hours, hazardous tasks and school attendance. Employers who understand these rules avoid compliance gaps and create better conditions for junior staff.
Who counts as a young worker
Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021 and its implementing regulations define a juvenile worker as someone between 15 and 18 years of age. Employment of anyone under 15 is prohibited outright. Workers aged 18 and above are treated as adults for employment purposes, so the special rules discussed here apply only within that 15–17 bracket.
Some free zones have their own implementing frameworks, but they generally mirror or reference the federal rules. If you operate in a free zone, confirm which authority governs your employment contracts — the federal Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) or the zone's own regulator.
Pre-employment requirements
Before a young worker starts, you must obtain written consent from a parent or legal guardian. Keep this on file alongside the employment contract. MOHRE also requires that juvenile workers undergo a medical examination confirming they are physically fit for the role before they begin work. The cost and logistics of arranging that examination sit with the employer.
You will need to register the worker through MOHRE's standard channels and ensure the employment contract is age-appropriate — it must be in Arabic (a translation can be provided alongside it) and must not include terms that expose the worker to conditions the law prohibits.
Restricted hours and prohibited work
The law places firm limits on when and how long a young worker can work:
- Maximum hours: Six hours per day, with mandatory rest breaks of at least one hour if the shift reaches that limit.
- Overtime: Not permitted for workers under 18.
- Night work: Young workers may not be employed between 10 pm and 6 am.
- Weekly rest: They are entitled to the same 24-hour weekly rest day as adult employees.
Certain categories of work are off-limits entirely for under-18s. These include hazardous, arduous or morally harmful roles. The Ministry publishes a list of prohibited occupations and industries — it covers activities involving heavy machinery, chemical exposure, underground work and similar risks. Review that list before assigning duties, particularly in construction, manufacturing, hospitality or industrial settings where role boundaries can blur in practice.
Leave and pay entitlements
Young workers carry the same basic entitlements as adult employees under the federal framework. After completing one year of continuous service, they are entitled to 30 calendar days of annual leave. There is no personal income tax on salaries in the UAE, so their take-home pay equals gross pay.
End-of-service gratuity accrues on the same basis as for any expatriate employee: 21 days' basic wage per year for the first five years of service, and 30 days' per year beyond that, capped at two years' total pay under Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021. For UAE and GCC nationals, pension contributions to the GPSSA apply in the normal way. Salaries must be paid through the Wage Protection System (WPS), regardless of the worker's age — there is no exemption for junior staff.
Practical steps for compliant onboarding
Getting the paperwork and process right from the start saves significant effort later. A workable checklist looks like this:
1. Confirm the candidate is at least 15 years old with a valid form of identification.
2. Obtain signed parental or guardian consent before the contract is signed.
3. Arrange and document the pre-employment medical examination.
4. Draft a contract that reflects restricted hours, prohibited tasks and all standard entitlements.
5. Register the worker through MOHRE (or the relevant free zone authority) and enrol them in WPS.
6. Brief line managers on the overtime ban, night-work restriction and hazardous-work prohibitions — these rules are easy to breach accidentally during busy periods if supervisors are not aware of them.
7. Keep a separate record of the worker's date of birth so that their status is automatically reviewed when they turn 18 and the special restrictions fall away.
When the worker turns 18
Once a young worker reaches 18, the juvenile employment rules no longer apply. Their contract does not automatically need to change, but you should update internal records, confirm that any previously restricted duties are now permissible, and review whether their role or pay structure should be revised. If they have been with you for some time, their gratuity accrual continues uninterrupted — the change in age category does not reset the service clock.
If you manage payroll across multiple jurisdictions, it is worth ensuring your system flags age-based rule changes automatically rather than relying on manual tracking — how Mellow runs payroll across six countries is one example of where automated compliance tracking reduces that risk.
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