Leave accrual and the cash value of unused days.
Leave encashment value
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Accrued days
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Remaining days
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Daily wage
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Where the 30-day entitlement comes from
UAE labour law, administered through MOHRE (the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation), gives a full-time private-sector employee 30 calendar days of paid annual leave once they have completed a year of service. In the partial first year, between six and twelve months in, leave accrues at 2 days a month. This tool models the steady state most people care about: 30 days a year building up evenly, which works out to 2.5 days for every full month worked. The entitlement this calculator applies is the statutory figure, and you should confirm the current rule with MOHRE, but the 30-day structure has been stable and is safe to plan around.
One point trips up a lot of people. Leave is earned, not granted in advance. If you have worked nine months, you have not banked the full 30 days. You have earned three quarters of them. That distinction matters most on resignation, because your employer only owes you cash for days you actually accrued and did not take.
Why your basic salary, not your gross, sets the payout
Encashment is calculated on basic salary alone. Housing, transport, and other allowances are stripped out, exactly as they are for end-of-service gratuity. So if your AED 20,000 package is split into AED 12,000 basic plus AED 8,000 in allowances, your leave is valued off the AED 12,000. The daily rate is that basic figure divided by 30, the standard day-count convention used across UAE settlement maths. A common mistake is to assume the full package drives the figure, which overstates what you are owed by a wide margin.
Cashing out 20 unused days on a 12,000 basic
Take the default inputs: a monthly basic of AED 12,000, a full twelve months worked, and 10 days already taken. The rates this calculator applies give a daily wage of AED 400.00 and a leave value of AED 8,000 for the 20 days left over.
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The chart below shows the same year: 30 days earned, 10 burned through holidays, and the 20-day balance that converts to cash.
Who should run this
It is built for two moments. The first is the employee weighing whether to take leave now or carry it, since unused days have a real cash value rather than simply lapsing. The second is anyone calculating a resignation or end-of-contract settlement, where accrued-but-untaken leave is paid alongside gratuity. There is no income tax to net off in the UAE, so the figure here is what actually lands in your account. Set months worked to a partial number, say 7, to see exactly how mid-year accrual scales the entitlement down.
Can my employer force me to take leave instead of paying it out?
While you are employed, yes, an employer can schedule your leave and require you to take it within the year, partly to keep the encashment liability in check. The mandatory cash payout applies to days you accrued but could not use by the time the relationship ends. Mid-employment carryover and encashment of unused days are usually governed by your contract and company policy, so check those terms.
Do weekends and public holidays count against my 30 days?
The 30 days are calendar days of entitlement, and official public holidays that fall inside a leave period are generally not deducted from your balance. Practice can vary by employer, so if a holiday lands during your booked leave, confirm with HR whether that day is added back rather than assuming it.