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Two employees in the UAE on the same AED 10,000 monthly package who leave after ten years can be owed very different end-of-service gratuity: AED 34,000 if basic salary is 40% of the package, AED 51,000 if it is 60%. The AED 17,000 gap comes entirely from how the contract splits the same pay between basic salary and allowances.
We ran 15 pay scenarios and 13 lengths of service through our UAE gratuity calculator, which applies Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. The salaries are illustrative and the rules are the law in force on November 1, 2026. Every figure below can be reproduced with the calculator.
Key findings
- AED 17,000 for one clause. On the median AED 10,000 package, moving basic salary from 40% to 60% of pay raises the ten-year gratuity from AED 34,000 to AED 51,000 – 50% more for the same monthly pay.
- Ten years earn 8.5 months of basic – but only 3.4 months of pay. With a 40% basic, a decade of service is worth 3.4 months of the full package; with 60%, 5.1 months.
- Years six to ten are worth more than years one to five. The first five years earn 3.5 months of basic; the next five add 5.0 more, so gratuity grows 2.43 times between year five and year ten.
- At the average package, AED 68,000. On AED 16,000 a month with a 50% basic, ten years of service give AED 68,000.
- The cap arrives after 25.5 years. Gratuity stops at two years’ basic salary, which a constant salary reaches after 25.5 years of service.
Gratuity by package and basic-salary share
The table shows five monthly packages, each with basic salary at 40%, 50% and 60% of the total, and the gratuity after two, five and ten years. Click a column heading to sort. The last column shows the ten-year gratuity in months of the full package – the figure most people have in mind when they think about their pay.
| Calculator | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AED 5,000 | 40% | AED 2,000 | AED 2,800 | AED 7,000 | AED 17,000 | 3.4 | Open |
| AED 5,000 | 50% | AED 2,500 | AED 3,500 | AED 8,750 | AED 21,250 | 4.3 | Open |
| AED 5,000 | 60% | AED 3,000 | AED 4,200 | AED 10,500 | AED 25,500 | 5.1 | Open |
| AED 10,000 | 40% | AED 4,000 | AED 5,600 | AED 14,000 | AED 34,000 | 3.4 | Open |
| AED 10,000 | 50% | AED 5,000 | AED 7,000 | AED 17,500 | AED 42,500 | 4.3 | Open |
| AED 10,000 | 60% | AED 6,000 | AED 8,400 | AED 21,000 | AED 51,000 | 5.1 | Open |
| AED 16,000 | 40% | AED 6,400 | AED 8,960 | AED 22,400 | AED 54,400 | 3.4 | Open |
| AED 16,000 | 50% | AED 8,000 | AED 11,200 | AED 28,000 | AED 68,000 | 4.3 | Open |
| AED 16,000 | 60% | AED 9,600 | AED 13,440 | AED 33,600 | AED 81,600 | 5.1 | Open |
| AED 25,000 | 40% | AED 10,000 | AED 14,000 | AED 35,000 | AED 85,000 | 3.4 | Open |
| AED 25,000 | 50% | AED 12,500 | AED 17,500 | AED 43,750 | AED 106,250 | 4.3 | Open |
| AED 25,000 | 60% | AED 15,000 | AED 21,000 | AED 52,500 | AED 127,500 | 5.1 | Open |
| AED 40,000 | 40% | AED 16,000 | AED 22,400 | AED 56,000 | AED 136,000 | 3.4 | Open |
| AED 40,000 | 50% | AED 20,000 | AED 28,000 | AED 70,000 | AED 170,000 | 4.3 | Open |
| AED 40,000 | 60% | AED 24,000 | AED 33,600 | AED 84,000 | AED 204,000 | 5.1 | Open |
Each “Open” link loads the calculator with the basic salary and dates of the ten-year case. Amounts are rounded to the nearest dirham by the calculator.
The ratio in the last column does not depend on the size of the package, only on the split: 40% basic always gives 3.4 months of package after ten years, 50% gives 4.25 and 60% gives 5.1. On a AED 25,000 package, each extra ten points of basic share is worth AED 21,250 after ten years.
How the gap grows with every year of service
The same median AED 10,000 package, year by year. Nothing is due before one full year of service. Each of the first five years adds 21 days’ basic; from year six each year adds a full month of basic, so the gap between the three contracts widens faster after year five.
| 1 | AED 2,800 | AED 3,500 | AED 4,200 |
| 2 | AED 5,600 | AED 7,000 | AED 8,400 |
| 3 | AED 8,400 | AED 10,500 | AED 12,600 |
| 4 | AED 11,200 | AED 14,000 | AED 16,800 |
| 5 | AED 14,000 | AED 17,500 | AED 21,000 |
| 6 | AED 18,000 | AED 22,500 | AED 27,000 |
| 7 | AED 22,000 | AED 27,500 | AED 33,000 |
| 8 | AED 26,000 | AED 32,500 | AED 39,000 |
| 10 | AED 34,000 | AED 42,500 | AED 51,000 |
| 15 | AED 54,000 | AED 67,500 | AED 81,000 |
| 20 | AED 74,000 | AED 92,500 | AED 111,000 |
| 25 | AED 94,000 | AED 117,500 | AED 141,000 |
| 30 | AED 96,000 (cap) | AED 120,000 (cap) | AED 144,000 (cap) |
After 25.5 years, every column has reached the cap of 24 months’ basic, and further service adds nothing. The cap is in months of basic salary, so a low basic share also means a low ceiling: AED 96,000 at 40% against AED 144,000 at 60% for the same pay.
Methodology
- Packages. AED 10,000 and AED 16,000 a month are the median and average gross monthly pay in the UAE’s 2024 Labour Force Survey by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC), as reported by Expatica; we could not consult the FCSC tables directly. AED 5,000, AED 25,000 and AED 40,000 were added to show lower and higher pay. All are illustrative, not the pay of any real job.
- Basic-salary share. 40%, 50% and 60% are illustrative splits. UAE law sets no minimum share of basic salary in the package, as a legal adviser explained in a Gulf News reader Q&A, so real contracts can sit below or above this range.
- Rules. Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021: at least one year of continuous service; daily wage = last basic monthly salary ÷ 30; 21 days per year for the first five years and 30 days per year after; part-years in proportion; total capped at two years’ basic. Resignation does not reduce the amount since 2 February 2022.
- Service. Every case ends on October 31, 2026, with no unpaid leave; years count as 365 days, as in the calculator. Salary is assumed constant – a raise in the final year raises the whole gratuity, because only the last basic salary counts.
Not modelled: the voluntary alternative end-of-service savings scheme (Cabinet Resolution No. 96 of 2023), DIFC and ADGM schemes, government and Emirati pension rules, deductions for amounts owed to the employer, and contracts that count allowances in the gratuity.
What to do with these numbers
- Read the split before you sign. An offer that moves pay from allowances to basic salary costs the employer the same each month but raises your gratuity, because gratuity counts basic salary only.
- Negotiate the basic share, not just the total. On a AED 25,000 package, ten extra points of basic are worth AED 21,250 after ten years.
- Know what year six is worth before you resign. From year six the yearly accrual rises from 21 to 30 days of basic – 43% more per year.
- Check your own figures. Enter your last basic salary and dates in the UAE gratuity calculator; for other Gulf states use the GCC gratuity calculator.
Sources and citation
- Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations, Article 51 – UAE Legislation
- Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation – mohre.gov.ae
- Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, Labour Force Survey 2024 – fcsc.gov.ae; figures as reported by Expatica
- Gulf News reader Q&A on how low basic salary can be compared with total salary – gulfnews.com
Data as of November 1, 2026. This study is free to cite with a link to this page.
This is general information about the rules our calculator applies, not legal advice. Contracts can give more than the legal minimum; confirm your entitlement with MOHRE or a lawyer.
