Dismissed without notice under Article 44 after four years
Dismissal for cause is where the most confident wrong answers are given. Under the old law, certain dismissals forfeited the gratuity. The current decree-law has no such provision. This case shows what an Article 44 dismissal does cost, and what it does not.
The facts
- Warehouse supervisor, Ajman mainland, private company under the federal law
- Started 1 January 2022
- Absent without permission or accepted excuse for nine consecutive days in March 2026 after a family emergency abroad, without telling the employer in time
- Employer held a written investigation, then dismissed him in writing under Article 44(8); employment ended 1 April 2026
- Package 9,500 AED: basic 6,000, housing 2,500, transport 1,000
- 8 days of annual leave accrued and untaken
Was this a lawful Article 44 dismissal?
Article 44 lists ten situations in which the employer may dismiss a worker without notice. Ground 8 is absence "without a legitimate reason or excuse accepted by the employer for more than (20) twenty intermittent days during one year or more than (7) seven consecutive days". Nine consecutive days is over the line.
The article also sets a procedure, and it is not optional. The employer may dismiss without notice only "after conducting a written investigation" with the worker, and the dismissal decision must be "in writing and justified" and handed to the worker. On these facts both steps were taken. Had they not been, the dismissal could be challenged as a termination without the notice the contract required — which would put notice pay back on the table.
Step 1 — the gratuity survives
Article 51 sets the end-of-service benefit for a full-time foreign worker who has completed a year of continuous service. It says nothing about how the employment ended, and there is no clause anywhere in the decree-law taking the benefit away from a worker dismissed under Article 44. The forfeiture rule that existed under Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 was not carried into the current law.
So the calculation is the ordinary one:
- Service: 1 January 2022 to 1 April 2026 = four whole years plus 90 days of a 365-day year = 4.247 years
- Daily basic: 6,000 ÷ 30 = 200 AED
- Days: 4.2466 × 21 = 89.18 days
- Gratuity: 89.18 × 200 = 17,836 AED
One caution on the service period. The nine days of unauthorised absence were unpaid, and Article 51(4) excludes "unpaid days of absence" from the service term. If the employer deducts them, service is 4.2219 years, the days fall to 88.66, and the gratuity is 17,732 AED — about 104 AED less. That deduction is consistent with the article. Anything more than that is not.
Step 2 — what the dismissal does take away
| Item | Amount | Why |
|---|---|---|
| End-of-service gratuity | 17,732–17,836 | Payable in full under Article 51; range depends on deducting the 9 unpaid days |
| 8 days' untaken annual leave | 1,600 | Article 29(9), 8 × 200 at basic wage — earned leave is not forfeited |
| Wages for days worked in March | as worked | Wages for the unauthorised absence are not owed |
| Notice pay | 0 | Article 44 permits dismissal without notice, so no notice allowance arises |
| Repatriation expenses | 0 | Article 13(12) shifts them to the worker where the reason for termination is attributable to him |
| Article 47 compensation | 0 | Not a retaliatory dismissal, so Article 47 does not apply |
Summary dismissal costs this employee his notice pay and his repatriation ticket. It does not cost him his gratuity or his leave. All amounts due are payable within 14 days of 1 April 2026 under Article 53.
The arguments an employer may make, and the answers
- "Gratuity is forfeited for gross misconduct." That was the 1980 law. Ask for the article of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 that says so. There is not one.
- "We are deducting our losses from the gratuity." Article 51(7) does allow the employer to deduct from the end-of-service benefit "any amounts payable under the law or a judgment", in accordance with the executive regulations. That covers a real, established debt — a loan, an overpayment, a court award. It is not a licence to withhold a round sum because the employer is unhappy. Insist that any deduction appear as its own line with its legal basis.
- "You absconded." Article 44(8) and an absence report are different things. Here the employer chose dismissal under Article 44, and the consequences are the ones in the table above. A work-abandonment report has separate immigration and work-permit consequences under Article 50 and is beyond what this page covers.
When Article 44 is used wrongly
Article 44 is a closed list. An employer who dismisses without notice for something that is not on it — poor performance without the two written warnings ground 4 requires, a single late arrival, a disagreement with a manager — has terminated without notice outside the article. The usual consequence is that the notice allowance under Article 43(3) becomes payable: the full wage for the notice period in the contract.
It does not usually make the dismissal "arbitrary" for Article 47 purposes. That article is narrower than its reputation: it covers termination because the worker filed a serious complaint with MOHRE or a lawsuit against the employer whose validity is proven. See terminated after eight years for how Article 47 works.
Put your explanation in writing during the investigation, with whatever evidence you have — a hospital record, a flight booking, messages showing you tried to notify the employer. Ground 8 turns on whether there was "a legitimate reason or excuse accepted by the employer". An excuse that was never put in writing is very hard to rely on later.
Questions
I was dismissed for misconduct. Can my employer refuse to pay my gratuity?
Not on the basis of the dismissal alone. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 does not forfeit the gratuity of a worker dismissed under Article 44. The employer may deduct amounts genuinely owed under the law or a judgment, under Article 51(7), but those should be itemised with their basis.
Do I get notice pay if I was dismissed under Article 44?
No, if the dismissal genuinely falls within one of the Article 44 grounds and the employer followed the procedure: written investigation, written and justified decision. If either is missing, the notice allowance under Article 43(3) may be payable.
Is the position the same in DIFC or ADGM?
No. Each has its own regime. ADGM's 2024 Employment Regulations, for example, make gratuity payable regardless of the reason for termination, including for cause. See free zones, DIFC and ADGM.
Related
- Resignation and terminationWhy how the job ended no longer changes the gratuity
- Notice periodsWhat notice is owed, and what happens when it is not given
- Filing a MOHRE complaintIf the settlement is withheld
Figures are for the case described. Published 2026-10-18 and reviewed against Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. General guidance, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.