Emirates: Question: I am thinking of taking up part-time work. Can you explain how end-of-service benefits and gratuity calculations work if I work for two employers?

Answer: Pursuant to your query, it is assumed that you intend to take up part-time work with employers based in the mainland of UAE. Therefore, the provisions of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 on the Implementation of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 Regarding the Regulation of Employment Relations are applicable.

In the UAE, an employee may work on a part-time basis model of employment. This is in accordance with Article 6 (1) (f) of the Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022, which states "Subject to the provisions of Article (6) of the Decree- Law, the types of work permits shall be determined as follows:

Part-time work permit: This type of permit allows establishments registered with the Ministry to employ an employee under a part-time contract where his working hours or working days are less than his full-time counterparts. The employee may work for more than one employer after obtaining a permit to do so from the Ministry."

Moreover, a part-time employee is entitled to gratuity if he or she has completed more than one year of service with his or her employer. The calculation for gratuity is based on the number of hours of employment by a part-time employee divided by the number of hours of a full-time employee in a similar role with the same employer multiplied by 100. This is under Article 30 of the Cabinet Resolution No.1 of 2022, which states, “Subject to the provisions of Article 52 of the Decree Law, the end of service benefits due to employee working in a part-time or job-sharing types and not on a full-time basis shall be calculated pursuant to the following mechanism:

1. The number of working hours set out in the employment contract per year divided by the number of working hours in the full-time contract per year multiplied by 100 (one hundred) equal to the percentage on which the end-of-service benefit should be calculated, then this percentage should be multiplied by the value of the end of service benefit due for the full-time employment contract."

2. The end-of-service benefit shall not apply in the case of part-time employment if its duration is less than one year.”

The calculation of gratuity for part-time employees is also based on a basic salary of 21 days for employees who have completed less than 5 years of continuous service with an employer and 30 days of basic salary as gratuity for subsequent years upon completion of 5 years as mentioned in Article 51 of the Employment Law.

Along with gratuity, a part-time employee is also eligible for cash in lieu of the annual leave not availed by him or her during the employment period with an employer. This is in accordance with Article 19(2) of the Cabinet Resolution No 1 of 2022, which states "If an employee's service ends, he shall be paid a cash allowance for the balance of his legally due annual leave, according to the basic salary."

Article 29(9) of the Employment Law states “An employee shall be entitled to be paid for his days of leave if he leaves work before the use thereof, irrespective of the length thereof, for the period for which he did not use his leave. The employee shall be entitled to the leave pay for the fractions of the year in proportion to the period of service, and the same is calculated on the basis of the basic salary."