Part-time and flexible contracts earn gratuity too
Pro-rated by hours, under Article 30 of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022. It is one of the least-covered parts of the current regime, and the assumption that part-time work earns nothing is both common and wrong.
Article 30 of Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 sets the entitlement as a percentage: the working hours in the employment contract per year, divided by the working hours in a full-time contract per year, multiplied by 100. That percentage is then applied to the gratuity a full-time employee would have earned for the same service.
The arithmetic, in order
Nothing about the underlying calculation changes. The pro-rating is the last step, not a different formula:
- Work out the full-time entitlement under Article 51 — 21 days of basic wage per year for the first five years, 30 thereafter.
- Work out your hours percentage: contracted annual hours ÷ full-time annual hours × 100.
- Apply the percentage.
- Apply the two-year ceiling if it bites, which at part-time hours it almost never will.
A worked example
Three years of service, basic wage 8,000 AED, contracted 24 hours a week where the employer's full-time week is 48 hours:
- Daily basic = 8,000 ÷ 30 = 266.67 AED
- Full-time entitlement = 3 × 21 = 63 days × 266.67 = 16,800 AED
- Hours percentage = 24 ÷ 48 × 100 = 50%
- Payable = 16,800 × 50% = 8,400 AED
The statute expresses the ratio in hours per year. The calculator on this site asks for weekly hours, because that is what contracts state and what people know. The two give the same answer whenever you and a full-time colleague work the same number of weeks in the year, which is the ordinary case. They diverge if your contract runs for part of the year only — a nine-month academic contract against a twelve-month full-time one, say. In that situation work the ratio out in annual hours yourself and treat our figure as approximate. We would rather tell you this than quietly round it.
The one-year threshold still applies
Part-time service of less than a year earns no statutory gratuity, exactly as full-time service does not. The threshold is measured in elapsed service, not in hours worked: eighteen months at two days a week clears it, and eleven months at five days a week does not.
Which contracts this covers
Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 recognises several working models beyond full-time, and the pro-rating logic follows the hours in each:
- Part-time — fixed, reduced hours for one employer, or for more than one with the required permissions.
- Temporary — work for a defined project or period.
- Flexible — hours that vary with the employer's workflow, which makes the annual-hours calculation the honest basis rather than a nominal week.
- Job-sharing — the shared role split between employees, each pro-rated on their own portion.
If your hours genuinely vary, keep your own record of them. The ratio is an arithmetic fact, and whoever has the hours written down is the one able to demonstrate it.
Two failures are common. The first is an employer treating part-time service as earning nothing at all — it earns a proportion, and the proportion is written into the regulations. The second is a dispute over what the employer's full-time week actually is, because the denominator decides the answer: 24 hours against a 40-hour week is 60%, and against a 48-hour week it is 50%. That number should be in your contract or the employer's policy. Ask for it in writing before you agree a figure.
Questions
Does overtime count towards the hours ratio?
The regulation refers to the working hours set out in the employment contract, not the hours actually worked in a given week. Regular overtime does not enlarge the contracted figure, though it may be relevant to other entitlements. If your contracted hours and your real pattern have diverged permanently, that is worth putting right in the contract rather than arguing at the end.
I work part-time for two employers. Do both owe gratuity?
Each employment relationship stands on its own. Each employer owes gratuity on the service and hours with them, subject to the same one-year threshold. Working for more than one employer requires the appropriate permit arrangements, which is a separate matter from the entitlement.
I moved from full-time to part-time with the same employer.
Service is continuous, so the clock does not restart, but the hours ratio differs across the two periods and a single percentage applied to the whole span will not be right. In practice the fair approach is to work each period on its own hours and add them. This is exactly the kind of case where the arithmetic is simple but the facts need agreeing in writing first — and where our calculator, which takes one hours ratio, will not model your situation properly.
Does the two-year ceiling apply to part-time service?
Yes, Article 51(3) applies, but the cap is two years of your wage and the pro-rating happens before it. At reduced hours you would need an implausibly long service period to reach it.
Related
- How gratuity is calculatedThe Article 51 formula the percentage is applied to
- The service periodWhat counts towards the one-year threshold
- Run your own figureTick the part-time box and enter both sets of hours
Reviewed 2026-09-19 against Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022. General guidance, not legal advice — see the disclaimer.