The UAE employment contract after the 2022 labour law

Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relationships came into force on 2 February 2022 and replaced Federal Law No. 8 of 1980. It has since been amended by Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2023. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, MoHRE, is the competent authority. The law reaches every worker in the UAE, Emirati or expatriate, with three exclusions: staff of federal and local government entities, the armed forces, police and security, and domestic workers, who sit under Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 instead.

One change carries most of the practical weight. The unlimited contract was abolished. Every private-sector contract is now fixed-term, which means it has an expiry date and a renewal question attached to it. What followed reaches further than the drafting: how service counts towards gratuity, how a term that quietly runs out is treated, and what a new employer inherits when it hires someone mid-probation.

The unlimited contract is gone, and so is its conversion window

A fixed-term contract may be extended or renewed for a similar or shorter duration. If it is neither extended nor renewed on expiry, and both sides carry on performing their obligations, the contract is considered renewed under the same terms as the original. Silence is not a lapse. It is a renewal on the old terms, and every extension or renewal is added in when end-of-service benefits are calculated. Contracts written under the 1980 law had to be converted, and the published wording of that deadline is worth reading closely.

That runs the year from the effective date of the existing contract rather than plainly from 2 February 2022, and it reserves a power for the Cabinet to extend. On either reading the window closed long ago, and the provisions of the Decree-Law apply to old unlimited contracts in any event. As at September 2026 the portal states no maximum term for a fixed-term contract, only that it may be extended or renewed for a similar or shorter duration. Anyone drafting a long term should read the consolidated text with the 2023 amendment rather than a summary page.

Probation is six months, and cannot be extended

The published rule is that probation must not exceed six months, or be extended for another term. Six months. No second bite. Where the worker completes probation and stays in service, that period counts as part of the service, which matters later for the one-year gratuity threshold. To terminate during probation the employer must give 14 days' prior written notice.

Leaving during probation carries a price, and it falls on the next employer

A worker changing jobs while on probation to join another employer inside the UAE must give the current employer written notice of at least one month. The new employer then compensates the current employer for the worker's recruitment cost, unless the current employer and the worker agreed otherwise. A worker resigning during probation to leave the UAE gives 14 days' written notice. Return within three months on a new work permit and the liability follows: the new employer owes the previous one those recruitment costs.

There is a further consequence under Article 8 of Ministerial Resolution No. 47 of 2022. No new work permit for one year from the date of departure where the worker ended the relationship during probation and the employer had not breached its obligations, or where a work abandonment report was proven true. The ban period starts once the worker leaves the country. Exemptions apply to a proven abandonment complaint, including workers on family residence visas, workers reapplying with the same establishment and Golden visa holders. MoHRE's call centre on 600590000 confirms whether a ban exists.

Notice runs from 30 to 90 days and must be symmetrical

Article 43 lets either party end the contract for any legitimate reason on written notification, with the contract continuing to be executed during a notice period of not less than 30 days and not more than 90. The contract ends only when that notice expires. The worker draws full wage for the period on the most recent salary, and a party that fails to serve notice pays the other a notice-period allowance on the worker's last wage, owed even where the absence of notice caused no harm.

Two details are easy to miss. Where the employer terminates, the worker is entitled to one unpaid day per week during notice to look for another job, choosing the day provided the employer is told at least three days beforehand. And the notice period must be the same for both parties unless the difference favours the worker. A contract giving the employer 30 days and the worker 90 does not survive that rule. Notice may still be reduced or waived by mutual agreement.

Dismissal is treated as unlawful under Article 47 where it results from the worker having submitted a serious complaint to MoHRE or filed a lawsuit that is proven valid. The court assesses compensation on the type of work, the damage caused and the length of employment, and in all cases it may not exceed three months' wage on the last wage the worker was entitled to. Gratuity and notice dues are claimed on top of that.

Six work models, and the permit has to match

• Full time: the worker works for one employer only, on a full-time basis
• Part time: the worker works for one or more employers for a specific number of hours or days
• Temporary work: the worker performs a specific assignment and the contract ends on its completion
• Flexible working: hours or days change according to the employer's business needs
• Remote work: all or part of the work is performed outside the workplace
• Job sharing: duties are divided among workers as agreed in advance, and the part-time rules apply

The model is not merely a label. MoHRE issues 13 types of work permit, and the part-time permit is the instrument that allows an establishment to employ someone for fewer hours or days than a full-time worker. Holding more than one employer requires the Ministry's approval. Article 17 fixes normal hours at 8 per day or 48 per week, and where a worker does serve more than one employer, none of them may demand hours beyond those agreed unless the worker consents in writing.

Non-competes cap at two years and have to be specific

Article 10 permits a non-compete restriction. It must be limited to what is necessary to protect the legitimate interests of the business, and defined in respect of time, place and the nature of the work. The maximum restrictive period is two years from the date the contract expires. A clause drafted at large, naming no place and no defined nature of work, does not answer that description whatever period it states.

What renewal does to the end-of-service sum

Article 51 sets gratuity for expatriate workers. One year of continuous service is the threshold, unpaid absence is excluded from the service calculation, and the basis is the last basic wage, so housing, transport, utilities and furniture allowances drop out. Emiratis in the private sector fall under the pensions and social security legislation instead.

Wages, entitlements and gratuity are payable within 14 days of termination, and sums owed by the worker may be deducted. For part-time and other models, Article 30 of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 applies a pro-rata formula against the full-time entitlement. Temporary employment of less than a year attracts nothing.

One check before signing. Read the offer, the MoHRE contract and the work permit type against each other, because the permit constrains what may lawfully be performed, and a part-time arrangement recorded on a full-time permit is the employer's problem rather than a technicality. Sort out any disagreement between them before the first day, not at the 14-day settlement.