What the law actually says about gratuity
Article 22 of Federal Decree-Law 9 of 2022 is titled End of Service Gratuity. This is the article in full, in MOHRE's own English text:
On the Minister's recommendation, the UAE Cabinet shall adopt the rules and regulations for calculation and payment of end of service gratuity for domestic workers.
That is the whole article. It names no number of days, no qualifying period and no cap. It creates a promise that the Cabinet will set those rules, and we found no Cabinet decision that does. The International Labour Organization records the same position: for domestic workers there is a statutory benefit of an end of service gratuity, "but the rules and regulations for calculation and payment of this gratuity for domestic workers have not yet been determined", with a footnote pointing at Article 22 and noting the Cabinet had not acted.
Two further checks point the same way. MOHRE's own awareness package for employers of domestic workers runs through recruitment packages, employer obligations, wages and the Wage Protection System, annual leave with a worked example, insurance and complaints, and contains no end of service gratuity section at all. And the implementing Cabinet Resolution 106 of 2022 is reported not to address it either.
This is the part most pages get wrong. A large number of calculator sites state that a UAE domestic worker gets 14 days of wage per year capped at six months, as though it were law. We could not find a citation for it in any instrument in force, so this page will not repeat it as one.
Where qualified advisers disagree
This is a genuinely contested question, and it would be dishonest to present either reading as settled.
- There is no entitlement at all. The UAE firm HPL Yamalova and Plewka wrote in May 2023 that because the 2022 decree-law does not set out a specific entitlement the way the repealed law did, "at present, there is no more expressed legal authority in support of gratuity entitlement for domestic workers".
- The entitlement survives, filled in from the private sector law. Khaled Ebid of KHE Legal Consultancy, answering in October 2023, took the view that end of service gratuity is still applicable to domestic workers, reading it across from Labour Law 33 of 2021 even though the domestic workers law does not mention it.
- The benefit exists but is not yet calculable. The ILO position above sits between the two: a statutory benefit, with no rules yet for working it out.
The reading this tool applies is the narrow, provable one: no instrument in force fixes a rate, so the tool will not assert a rate. It makes you supply one and then labels the result as yours rather than as the law's. If a Cabinet decision is issued, this page will be updated to follow it.
Who the domestic workers law covers
This is usually the first thing a visitor needs to settle, because the answer decides which statute applies at all. Article 3 of the decree-law applies it to domestic workers "whose occupations are listed in its Implementing Regulation", and lets the Minister amend that list to meet market demand. The authoritative list is Schedule 1 to Cabinet Resolution 106 of 2022, which press reporting puts at 19 occupations. MOHRE's employers guide names these among the domestic worker professions when it sets out which of them must be paid through the Wage Protection System:
- Housemaid
- Nanny or babysitter
- Chef or cook
- Personal or family driver
- Housekeeper
- Gardener
- Farmer
- Security guard
- Sailor
- Physical labour worker
- Household shepherd
- Household horse groomer
- Household falcon tamer
- Private tutor
- Private trainer
- Personal healthcare provider
- Personal public relations officer
- Private agricultural engineer
Article 1 defines a domestic worker as a natural person performing a household service for a wage under the direction, supervision and guidance of the employer, and the workplace as the permanent or temporary residence of the employer or the family, including residential property, farmland or similar. If the worker is on an ordinary company contract rather than a MOHRE domestic worker contract, the private sector rules apply instead and the UAE gratuity calculator is the right tool.
What wage means for a domestic worker
A domestic worker contract usually states a single monthly figure, with accommodation and food provided in kind rather than split into basic plus allowances. Article 1 of the decree-law defines both terms anyway. Basic remuneration is "the basic salary specified in the employment contract, without additional bonuses, allowances, or any other benefits". Total remuneration is the basic wage plus all allowances and bonuses and any other benefits stipulated in the contract.
Because there is no gratuity rule, the law never says which of those two a gratuity would be calculated on. That question is open. The one place the decree-law does pick is cash in lieu of unused annual leave, which Article 10 calculates on the last remuneration the worker received. The estimator on this page takes whatever single monthly figure you enter and divides by 30 for a daily rate, which is a convention rather than a statutory divisor, and it says so next to the result.
What the law does fix
The gap is narrower than it sounds. Almost everything else about the relationship is set out expressly, each with an article number.
| Article | What it fixes |
|---|---|
| Article 7 | A written contract on the unified standard form MOHRE mandates, with a copy given to the worker. A limited contract runs two years and may be renewed. |
| Article 8 | Probation of not more than six months from the date of employment. |
| Article 9 | A paid weekly rest day, and daily rest of at least 12 hours of which at least 8 are consecutive. |
| Article 10 | Annual leave of not less than 30 days for each year of service, or two days a month for service over six months and under a year. Cash in lieu of unused leave at the end, on the last remuneration. A return ticket home once every two years when the worker spends leave in the home country. Sick leave of 30 days a year, the first 15 at full pay and the next 15 at half pay. |
| Article 15 | Monthly wages paid in dirhams within not more than 10 days of the due date, confirmed by a written receipt or another means MOHRE determines. |
| Article 19 | On expiry of the contract, the employer pays the worker compensation within 10 days of the expiry date. |
| Article 20 | Where the contract ends for reasons not attributable to the worker, the employer pays the compensation due plus the cost of repatriating the worker home. |
| Article 26 | A claim for entitlements under the decree-law is not heard after three months from the date the relationship ended, and domestic worker claims are exempt from judicial fees. |
Note the deadline in Article 19 and the limitation period in Article 26 together: the employer has 10 days to settle, and the worker has three months to bring a claim. Both are fixed even though the gratuity figure is not.
What actually decides the amount in practice
The contract and the services centre agreement
Article 7 requires the contract to be on the unified standard form MOHRE mandates and to state the total remuneration, the payment method, authorised leave, the probation period, rest periods and the circumstances that can end it. Where a services centre is involved, the centre also concludes a contract with the employer on a MOHRE approved form. MOHRE publishes the list of approved domestic workers services centres, dated 2 March 2026, which includes Tadbeer branded centres among roughly 120 entries across the emirates. Those documents, not a statutory schedule, are where an end of service figure comes from.
The MOHRE domestic workers dues calculator
MOHRE lists a domestic workers dues calculator in its services directory, categorised as an employer service for the domestic workers sector. The service page itself publishes no formula. Gulf News, walking readers through it in April 2024, reports that the calculator takes the basic and net salary, the working period, the reason for contract termination, unused annual leave, overtime worked at weekends and any work injuries. If you need a number to rely on, that is the one to run. This page is not a government tool and is not endorsed by MOHRE.
MOHRE if you cannot agree
Article 23, as amended by Federal Decree-Law 21 of 2023, sends a dispute the parties cannot settle to MOHRE, which must take all necessary measures to resolve it amicably and otherwise refer it to the competent court with a memorandum summarising the dispute and its recommendations. MOHRE renders a final judgment where the claim is not more than AED 50,000, or where a party does not comply with an amicable settlement decision.
Worked example
Monthly wage AED 2,500, service from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024, which is exactly three years, no unpaid absence, one year qualifying period applied, no cap. The rate below is the commonly quoted 14 days, chosen deliberately to show what that choice produces. It is a choice, not an entitlement. Press "Load the worked example" in the calculator to see the same lines live.
| Line | Working | AED |
|---|---|---|
| Daily wage | 2,500 / 30 | 83.33 |
| Service counted | 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2024 = 3 years | |
| Days accrued | 3 years x 14 days = 42 days | |
| Cap | None applied | |
| Estimate on that basis | 42 days x 83.33 | 3,500.00 |
Change the rate to 21 days and the same service gives AED 5,250. At 30 days it gives AED 7,500. The spread between those three figures, on identical facts, is the whole reason this page refuses to print one of them as the answer.
Assumptions and exclusions
- The rate is yours. Nothing on this page asserts a statutory number of days of wage per year for domestic workers, because we found none in force.
- The one year qualifying period is an option, on by default because both the repealed 2017 domestic workers law and the private sector law use one. The decree-law in force fixes no qualifying period.
- No cap is applied unless you ask for one. The decree-law sets no cap on domestic worker end of service pay.
- Daily wage is the monthly wage divided by 30, a convention rather than a figure quoted in the law.
- Whole years run from the start date to each anniversary. The year in progress is valued as months divided by 12 plus days divided by 365.
- Unpaid absence days are removed by moving the end of service back, so they can also delay a qualifying year.
- Accrual is flat across all years. There is no five year step, because the 21 and 30 day bands belong to a different statute.
- Unused annual leave, the repatriation ticket, overtime, work injuries, deductions and anything owed to the recruitment office are not included. MOHRE's own dues calculator covers several of those.
- Workers on ordinary company contracts, DIFC and ADGM staff and UAE nationals are outside this tool entirely.
What we could not source
Stating this plainly is the point of the page, so it gets its own heading rather than a footnote.
- No Cabinet decision, MOHRE page or u.ae page setting a number of days, a qualifying period or a cap for domestic worker end of service gratuity. If one exists, we did not find it, and this page will be corrected the moment it is produced.
- The text of the repealed Federal Law 10 of 2017 from an authoritative source. The 14 days figure is widely attributed to it, and the attribution is plausible, but we could not verify it first hand, so the page treats it as an unverified origin for a figure that in any case no longer binds.
- The full Schedule 1 occupations list from the text of Cabinet Resolution 106 of 2022. The occupations above come from MOHRE's employers guide, and the count of 19 from press reporting.
- Any formula published by MOHRE behind its own domestic workers dues calculator. The service page states no method.
How Axion People handles this
Domestic worker contracts are not what a company payroll system is for, and Axion does not pretend otherwise. What the People box does do is accrue end of service liability for employees on ordinary contracts from the employee record, month by month, alongside payroll runs, WPS files and GOSI, so the number is visible before the final settlement rather than after it. Where a rule is contested, Axion records the basis used against the employee rather than burying it in a formula.
Frequently asked questions
Is gratuity mandatory for a housemaid in the UAE?
There is no formula in force that fixes the amount. Article 22 of Federal Decree-Law 9 of 2022 is titled End of Service Gratuity and says only that the UAE Cabinet, on the recommendation of the Minister, shall adopt the rules and regulations for calculation and payment of end of service gratuity for domestic workers. It sets no number of days, no qualifying period and no cap, and we found no Cabinet decision that supplies them. The International Labour Organization records the same position: a statutory benefit exists but the rules for calculating and paying it have not yet been determined. Qualified UAE advisers read this differently, and the page sets out both readings.
Where does the 14 days per year figure come from?
It circulates widely on third party calculator pages and is usually attributed to the repealed Federal Law 10 of 2017 on domestic workers, which the 2022 decree-law replaced on 15 December 2022. We could not load an authoritative text of the repealed law to verify that attribution first hand, and we found no instrument in force today that states 14 days for domestic workers. That is why this tool offers 14 days as one option among several, labelled as commonly quoted with no legal citation we could find, and never applies it unless you pick it.
Does the private sector 21 and 30 day gratuity formula apply to domestic workers?
No. The 21 and 30 day bands come from Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021, which regulates employment relationships in the private sector. Domestic workers sit under their own statute, Federal Decree-Law 9 of 2022, and Article 3 of that decree-law applies it to the occupations listed in its implementing regulation. So a housemaid, driver or nanny on a MOHRE domestic worker contract is not on the private sector schedule. One UAE adviser does argue the private sector law fills the gap, which is set out on this page as a competing reading rather than as settled law.
How is a housemaid gratuity calculation done in the UAE in practice?
In practice the amount comes from the employment contract and the agreement with the MOHRE approved services centre, not from a statutory formula. MOHRE also publishes its own domestic workers dues calculator in its services directory, which Gulf News reports takes the basic and net salary, the working period, the reason the contract ended, unused annual leave, weekend overtime and any work injuries. If the parties disagree, MOHRE handles the dispute. Use the estimator on this page to model a rate, then check the figure against the contract and the MOHRE calculator.
What should I do if my domestic worker asks for gratuity at the end of the contract?
Start with the contract and the agreement with the recruitment office or services centre, because that is what actually fixes the amount. Article 19 of the decree-law requires the employer to pay the worker compensation within ten days of the contract expiry date, so the deadline itself is not in doubt even where the gratuity figure is. Run MOHRE's own domestic workers dues calculator, and if you cannot agree, Article 23 sends the dispute to MOHRE, which must try to settle it amicably and can give a final decision where the claim is not more than AED 50,000.
Which entitlements does the domestic workers law actually fix?
Plenty, just not the gratuity. Annual leave is not less than 30 days for each year of service, or two days a month for service over six months and under a year (Article 10). Unused annual leave is paid in cash on the last remuneration at the end of the relationship, and the employer covers a return ticket home once every two years (Article 10). Sick leave is 30 days a year, the first 15 on full pay and the next 15 at half pay (Article 10). Probation cannot exceed six months (Article 8). Wages are due within ten days (Article 15), and final compensation within ten days of contract expiry (Article 19).
Related tools
- UAE gratuity calculator, for employees on ordinary private sector contracts under Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021, where the 21 and 30 day bands do apply.
- All Axion tools, including the GOSI and Saudi end of service calculators.
- What is in each Axion box and how it is priced.
Sources
All sources checked on 11 September 2026.
- MOHRE, Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 concerning domestic workers (PDF, English text, incorporating the amendments made by Federal Decree-Law 21 of 2023): Articles 1, 3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23 and 26
- International Labour Organization, Regulatory framework governing migrant workers, United Arab Emirates, updated December 2023: the domestic worker column on end of service gratuity, and footnote 56
- MOHRE, Awareness package for employers of domestic workers (PDF): recruitment packages, employer obligations, the Wage Protection System professions, annual leave worked example and the domestic worker insurance scheme
- MOHRE, Domestic workers dues calculator, in the services directory (listed as an employer service for the domestic workers sector)
- MOHRE, list of approved domestic workers services centres (PDF dated 2 March 2026), which includes Tadbeer branded centres
- HPL Yamalova and Plewka FZCO, No gratuity for domestic workers, UAE (24 May 2023): the reading that there is no express legal authority for the entitlement
- Khaled Ebid, KHE Legal Consultancy, answering on Legal Advice Middle East (19 October 2023): the contrary reading, that gratuity still applies to domestic workers
- Gulf News, How to calculate UAE domestic workers gratuity benefits online (24 April 2024): what the MOHRE calculator asks for
- Khaleej Times, UAE releases list of 19 occupations falling under domestic worker category
This tool produces an estimate from figures you supply, including a rate you choose yourself, because no statutory rate for domestic worker gratuity was found in force. It is not legal advice, it is not a government or MOHRE tool, and it is not approved or endorsed by any authority. The employment contract, the agreement with the services centre and MOHRE decide the actual amount. Check any figure with MOHRE, the services centre or a qualified adviser before relying on it.