Parental and family leave in the United Arab Emirates
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Parental and family leave entitlements in the UAE are set out in Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021 and apply to most private-sector employees. The rules cover maternity, paternity and parental care leave, and employers must apply them correctly regardless of an employee's nationality.
Maternity leave
Female employees are entitled to 60 calendar days of maternity leave. The first 45 days are paid at full basic salary plus allowances. The remaining 15 days are paid at half salary.
Leave can begin up to 30 days before the expected due date. If the birth is delayed, those extra days do not reduce the 60-day entitlement.
An employee who has a miscarriage or stillbirth after six months of pregnancy is also entitled to maternity leave. For a miscarriage or stillbirth before six months, the employee is entitled to sick leave under the standard sick-leave provisions of the law.
An employee cannot be dismissed while on maternity leave. If an employee falls ill as a result of the pregnancy or birth and needs additional time, she may use her accrued sick leave once the 60 days are exhausted.
Paternity leave
Male employees are entitled to five working days of paid paternity leave. This must be taken within six months of the child's birth. The leave applies to both natural births and, under most interpretations of the law, to adoption-equivalent situations, though employers should confirm specific circumstances with their legal counsel.
Five days is a short window. Practically, it is worth noting this in your offer letters and employment contracts so employees know the entitlement and can plan accordingly.
Parental leave for a sick or disabled child
Beyond maternity and paternity leave, the law provides for parental care leave of 30 calendar days per year, paid in full, for a parent caring for a child with a disability or chronic illness requiring ongoing care. This leave can be taken continuously or in separate periods and is available to both mothers and fathers.
To claim this leave, the employee will typically need to provide medical documentation confirming the child's condition. It is good practice to set out your documentation requirements clearly in your HR policy so there is no ambiguity when a request arises.
Compassionate leave
Employees are entitled to bereavement leave on the death of a close family member:
- Five days for the death of a spouse.
- Three days for the death of a parent, child, sibling, grandparent or grandchild.
This leave is paid and is separate from annual leave, which stands at 30 calendar days per year after one year of service.
How this fits your payroll and WPS obligations
All leave pay must flow through the Wage Protection System (WPS). Maternity leave pay at half salary still counts as a WPS-processed payment — you cannot reduce it outside the system or delay it without triggering a compliance flag.
A few points worth building into your payroll process:
Gratuity continues to accrue during statutory leave. End-of-service gratuity is calculated on basic wage and accrues throughout employment, including while an employee is on maternity or other statutory leave. Interrupting accrual during leave is not permitted under Federal Decree-Law No. 33/2021.
Probation and leave interaction. An employee who has not completed their probationary period before going on maternity leave completes that period on return. The law does not allow probation to run concurrently with maternity leave in a way that disadvantages the employee.
Part-time and flexible return. Following maternity leave, a female employee has the right to request flexible working arrangements. The employer must consider the request and may agree to remote work, reduced hours or a phased return. Refusal is permitted but should be documented with business reasons.
Practical steps for employers
Keep a straightforward checklist in your HR process for any family leave request:
1. Confirm which category of leave applies and the correct duration.
2. Request supporting documentation (birth certificate, medical certificate, death certificate) and set a reasonable deadline.
3. Confirm the pay calculation in writing — full pay or half pay — before the leave starts.
4. Update your payroll system so WPS payments are processed correctly throughout the leave period.
5. Record the leave dates accurately so gratuity accrual remains uninterrupted.
For businesses managing staff across multiple countries, keeping leave rules consistent across jurisdictions is one of the more error-prone parts of HR administration. How Mellow runs payroll across six countries explains how a single payroll layer can handle country-specific rules without manual tracking.
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