Notice periods: the 30-to-90-day rule and what replaces it

Notice decides when a contract actually ends, which decides the service period, the settlement deadline and sometimes whether a gratuity is due at all. It also produces its own line in the settlement when one side does not give it.

The basic rule

So the contract chooses a figure, and the law sets the range. A contract that says 15 days after probation is below the floor; one that says six months is above the ceiling. And the notice must be the same for both parties, unless a difference serves the worker's interests (Article 43(2)) — an employer cannot require 90 days from you while keeping 30 for itself.

During the notice period

• The contract stays alive. Article 43(2): the contract "continues to be valid throughout the notice period" and ends when it expires. Service keeps counting for gratuity and leave.
• Full wage is paid, on the last wage the worker was receiving, and the worker works if the employer asks (Article 43(2)).
• A job-search day. If the employer gave notice, the worker may be absent one working day a week, without pay, to look for another job, naming the day with at least three days' warning (Article 43(5)).
• Notice during leave. If notice is given while the worker is on leave, the notice period does not start until the day after the scheduled return, unless both sides agree otherwise (Article 35).

Waiving or shortening notice

The parties may agree to waive the notice period or shorten it, "while preserving all the rights of the worker for the notice period agreed upon in the employment contract" (Article 43(2)). Read that carefully. An agreed early release is not supposed to cost the worker the rights the notice period carried. If an employer asks you to agree to leave early and the settlement then omits the notice-period wages, ask how that squares with the article.

A worker who asks to leave early is in a different position: if you want to go before the end of your notice and the employer agrees, the agreement should say who pays what for the remaining days. Get it in writing.

When notice is not given: the notice allowance

Article 43(3): the party who does not observe the notice period pays the other a notice period allowance, equal to the worker's wage for the full notice period or the part not served — "even if the absence of notification does not cause damage". It runs both ways:

• An employer that ends the contract immediately owes the worker the allowance.
• A worker who walks out without serving notice owes the employer the allowance.

Article 43(4) calculates it on "the last wage received by the worker" (or the average daily wage for piecework). Because the decree-law's definition of wage includes allowances, this is the full package, not basic — the reverse of gratuity. See pay in lieu of notice for a worked case in which the difference is 18,000 AED.

Notice and the gratuity are separate

A worker who fails to serve notice may owe the allowance. That is a claim the employer can make. It does not cancel or reduce the Article 51 gratuity, which is earned by service, and the two should appear as separate lines in the settlement rather than as an unexplained reduction in the gratuity. See resignation and termination.

During probation

Article 9 replaces the 30-day minimum with its own periods while probation lasts:

• Employer ends the employment: at least 14 days' written notice (Article 9(1))
• Worker leaves to join another UAE employer: at least one month (Article 9(3))
• Foreign worker leaves to leave the UAE: at least 14 days (Article 9(4))

Breaching these carries compensation equal to the wage for the notice period or its remainder (Article 9(5)), and for a foreign worker who leaves the country without complying, a possible one-year bar on a new work permit (Article 9(6)). Worked through in resigning during probation.

When no notice is needed

By the employer: Article 44

The employer may dismiss without notice in the ten situations Article 44 lists — among them forged documents, gross loss caused by the worker's mistake (reported to MOHRE within seven working days), serious safety breaches, repeated failure to perform after two written warnings, intoxication at work, assault, and unexcused absence of more than 20 intermittent days in a year or more than 7 consecutive days. Only after a written investigation, and only by a written, justified decision handed to the worker. See summary dismissal under Article 44.

By the worker: Article 45

The worker may leave without notice, "while retaining his rights upon end of service", where:

1. the employer breaches its obligations, the worker notifies MOHRE fourteen working days before leaving, and the employer does not put it right despite MOHRE's notification;
2. the employer or its representative assaulted, used violence against or harassed the worker, reported to the authorities and MOHRE within five working days of being able to;
3. there is a grave danger at work that the employer knows of and does nothing to remove; or
4. the employer assigns work fundamentally different from the contract without written consent, outside cases of necessity.

Article 45 is a safety valve with procedural conditions attached. Ground 1 in particular requires the MOHRE notification first; walking out and citing a breach afterwards is a much weaker position.

Questions

Related

• The 14-day deadlineWhich starts when the notice period ends
• The service periodWhy worked notice counts towards gratuity
• Every line you are owedNotice pay as a separate settlement line

Published 2026-10-18 and reviewed against Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. General guidance, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.