UAE Labour Law: Leaving Your job? Here Are Some Of Your Legal Entitlements And Benefits
Be it Jobs loss insurance or gratuity–there are to four methods in which employees in Dubai (UAE) can be able to support themselves after leaving their job.
These are as follows:
Gratuity for full-time private sector employees in UAE
All employees in the UAE’s private sector are eligible to receive an end-of-service gratuity, also known as severance pay, based on their duration of service in the UAE.
As per Article 51 of the UAE’s Labour Law, private sector employees are eligible to a gratuity payout if they have completed more than one year of service.
Unemployment Insurance Scheme
(ILOE) scheme is another form of insurance or social security for employees in the federal and private entities. The goal of the scheme is to protect terminated employees by giving them a maximum three-month cash compensation so long as they did not resign from their job or were dismissed for disciplinary grounds.
To qualify for this compensation, Workers should have subscribed to the scheme for at least 12 consecutive months.
Repatriation ticket
If your job contract has ended, and you have plan to go back to your home country, your employer is legally responsible for paying for your flight ticket.
As per Article 13 of the UAE’s Labour Law, a repatriation ticket is only granted if you have been terminated from the job. You will not be eligible for a paid ticket back home if you have resigned, joined another company, continue to stay in the UAE or are terminated for misconduct.
New savings scheme – ‘Voluntary Alternative End-of-Service Benefits’
The scheme was introduced in November 2023.
In the UAE, private sector workers can now walk away with a higher end-of-service gratuity after their work contract is terminated if they are enrolled in the new alternative end of service benefits system.
The savings scheme, as suggested by the name, is an alternative to the gratuity system that workers are entitled to as per the UAE Labour Law. However, this is a voluntary scheme. It invests the end-of-service gratuity benefits of employees who have been registered by their employers in approved funds, enabling them to receive returns upon completion of their service.
