UAE & Saudi Gratuity Calculator

The UAE & Saudi Gratuity Calculator estimates the end of service benefit (EOSB) an expatriate employee is owed when a job ends in the private sector. Enter your basic monthly salary, your joining date, your last working day and any unpaid leave, and the tool works out your length of service, the gratuity earned for the first five years and the years after that, and whether the legal cap applies. You can switch between UAE rules and Saudi Arabia rules with one tap.

In the UAE, gratuity is governed by Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, which took effect on 2 February 2022. A foreign full-time employee who completes at least one year of continuous service earns 21 days of basic wage for each of the first five years and 30 days of basic wage for each additional year, with partial years paid pro rata. The daily wage is your last basic monthly salary divided by 30, and allowances such as housing and transport are not included. Days of unpaid leave are not counted as service, and the total gratuity cannot exceed two years' wage. UAE nationals are covered by pension and social security law instead, so this calculator is meant for expatriates.

The 2021 law also simplified how contracts and resignations work. All UAE private-sector contracts are now fixed-term (limited) contracts, and the old unlimited contract has been phased out. Under the previous 1980 law, an employee on an unlimited contract who resigned before five years lost one third or two thirds of their gratuity. The new law dropped those resignation reductions, so a worker with at least one year of service who resigns with proper notice is generally entitled to the same gratuity as one who is terminated. Your employer may still deduct amounts you legally owe, such as an outstanding loan, and some free zones (DIFC, ADGM) and employers in approved savings schemes follow their own rules.

Saudi Arabia works differently. Under Article 84 of the Saudi Labor Law, the end-of-service award is half a month's wage for each of the first five years and a full month's wage for each year after that, again pro rata for part years. Saudi law uses the full wage (basic plus regular allowances unless your contract lawfully excludes some), and there is no two-year cap. Resignation matters a lot: under Article 85 you get nothing with less than two years of service, one third of the award for two to five years, two thirds for five to ten years, and the full award after ten years. Article 87 gives the full award in special cases, for example force majeure or a female employee who resigns within six months of marriage or three months of giving birth.

Worked example (UAE): an employee on a basic salary of AED 10,000 works exactly 7 years with no unpaid leave. The daily wage is 10,000 ÷ 30 = AED 333.33. The first five years earn 5 × 21 × 333.33 = AED 35,000 and the next two years earn 2 × 30 × 333.33 = AED 20,000, for a total gratuity of AED 55,000. That is well below the cap of 24 × 10,000 = AED 240,000. The same person in Saudi Arabia on a SAR 10,000 wage would earn 5 × 5,000 + 2 × 10,000 = SAR 45,000 if the contract ended, but only two thirds (SAR 30,000) if they resigned.