Made to Work on a UAE Public Holiday? Here's What You're Owed

Yes, your employer can ask you to work on a holiday

An official public holiday doesn't automatically mean every business closes. If operational needs require it, your employer can legitimately ask you to work — but that requirement doesn't erase your entitlement to something in return for giving up that day.

What you're actually entitled to

Article 28 of the UAE Labour Law gives you one of two things — not both, as a general rule:

• A substitute day off — one extra rest day for every public holiday you worked, or
• Extra pay — your normal wage for that day, plus an additional payment of at least 50% of your basic wage.

It's not "double pay" in the way people sometimes describe it, and it's not automatically both a day off and the 50% top-up — the law sets these up as alternatives, unless your contract or company policy is more generous than the legal minimum.

"HR says my comp-off expired" — don't just accept that

This is genuinely one of the most misunderstood parts of UAE employment law. Article 28 itself doesn't set any fixed expiry period for using your substitute day — no 30 days, no three months, no six months. A company policy might set an internal scheduling process, but that's different from the company being allowed to simply cancel your underlying entitlement.

So if you worked a public holiday, were never given a substitute day, and were never paid the statutory extra amount either — and HR later says the comp-off has "expired" — that position is worth pushing back on. The real question is whether you actually received one of the two forms of compensation the law requires, not whether an internal system deleted a balance from its records.

This is different from annual leave

It's easy to mix these up, but a public-holiday compensatory day and ordinary annual leave come from completely different parts of the law, with different rules on carrying them forward. Be cautious if an employer tries to apply annual-leave expiry rules to a public-holiday comp-off — the legal basis for the two is genuinely not the same.

What to actually do if you're not being compensated

• Confirm the date was an official public holiday — check against the UAE Government's published list.
• Keep evidence that you worked — attendance records, rosters, emails, manager instructions, anything with a date on it.
• Ask HR in writing to confirm whether you're owed a substitute day or the statutory payment, and whether anything has already been processed.
• Reference Article 28 directly and ask for the outstanding entitlement to be corrected — keep it factual, not confrontational.
• Contact MOHRE if it isn't resolved — private-sector employees can register a complaint through MOHRE's website or app, or call the Labour Claims and Advisory Centre on 80084.

Don't sit on it too long

MOHRE's current guidance suggests raising a complaint within 30 days of a breach, and there's a separate two-year limitation on court claims from when employment actually ends. Neither of those is a reason to panic, but they are a good reason not to let an unresolved public-holiday entitlement quietly sit for years before you do anything about it.

Does this apply to everyone?

This is specifically about private-sector employees covered by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Government employees and domestic workers are covered separately, and free zones — particularly the DIFC and ADGM — run their own independent employment frameworks. If you work in one of those, check the rules that actually apply to your specific employment relationship rather than assuming Article 28 covers you automatically.

Frequently Asked Questions

This article is general information, not legal advice. Employment rights can vary by contract, workplace policy, and whether you're covered by mainland UAE labour law or a free-zone framework. Get specific advice if a dispute has already arisen.