Employment & HR
Resigning — notice, bans and what you are owed
Resignation no longer costs you your gratuity, and labour bans apply far more narrowly than they did. A great deal of advice circulating on this is from the old law.
The entitlement
What the law gives, regardless of contract.
An employee resigns by giving written notice of the period specified in the contract, between thirty and ninety days, and continues to work and be paid during it. On completing one year of service the employee is entitled to full end-of-service gratuity on resignation. During the notice period the employee is entitled to one unpaid day per week to search for other work, on notice to the employer, and the employer must cancel the visa and settle final dues within the statutory period after the employment ends.
Two things changed with the 2021 reforms and much of the advice online has not caught up. Under the previous regime, resignation before completing five years on an unlimited contract reduced gratuity on a sliding scale, and breaking a limited contract early routinely produced a labour ban. Neither is the position now: gratuity is calculated the same way regardless of who ended the relationship, and bans apply in much narrower circumstances. Employees consequently stay in roles they should leave, and employers occasionally rely on a threat that no longer has substance behind it.
The numbers
- Notice
- 30–90 days as specified, worked and paid
- Gratuity
- Full entitlement on resignation after one year
- Job search
- One unpaid day per week during notice, on notice to the employer
- Labour ban
- Applies far more narrowly than under the pre-2021 law
- Final settlement
- Due within the statutory period
- Visa
- Cancelled by the employer; a grace period follows
What it costs
In practice
How this is actually administered.
- Give written notice of the contractual periodVerbal resignation creates a dispute about when the clock started.
- Work the notice unless payment in lieu is agreedWalking out converts a clean resignation into a breach the employer can raise.
- Use the job search entitlementOne unpaid day per week during notice, which most employees do not know exists.
- Confirm the settlement calculation in writingGratuity, accrued leave, outstanding wages, and anything contractual.
- Ensure the visa is properly cancelledAn uncancelled visa blocks the next employer's work permit and follows you regardless of whose omission it was.
Related
Questions
No. Since the 2021 reforms, full end-of-service gratuity is payable on resignation after one year of service.
Bans apply considerably more narrowly than under the previous law. A resignation with proper notice generally does not attract one.
Yes, unless payment in lieu is agreed. Leaving without working notice is a breach the employer can pursue.
Yes — one unpaid day per week during the notice period, on notice to the employer.
One question
How many people are on the payroll?
Then the order matters. Establishment card, then quota, then work permit, then entry permit, then medical, Emirates ID and contract registration. Skipping ahead to a signed offer letter before the quota exists is the usual way a start date slips by six weeks.
The first hire, in orderOr just ask usThis is the size where informal arrangements start costing money — salaries paid partly outside WPS, leave that was never tracked, gratuity nobody has accrued for. None of it is hard to fix now and all of it is expensive to fix at a MOHRE hearing.
What you are accruing without knowingOr just ask usThen Emiratisation quotas, WPS timing, ILOE subscriptions and health insurance renewals are running on separate calendars, and the penalty for each is levied per employee. Consolidating those dates is usually worth more than any single piece of advice.
What gets inspectedOr just ask us