End-of-service gratuity after death in the UAE: who gets it

By MyHaven Team·Published 31 October 2026·7 minute read

When a private-sector employee dies in the UAE, the labour law has the employer hand the end-of-service gratuity, unpaid wages and any other money owed to the worker’s family, meaning the spouse, sons and daughters, or to the family member the worker named in writing, within ten days of the death or of the employer learning of it. This guide covers how the gratuity is worked out, what else is owed, how it sits alongside a will, and the separate rules for employees in the DIFC.

The short answer

Article 15 of Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021, the UAE labour law, deals with a worker’s death. It provides for the employer to hand over any wages and financial entitlements due, together with the end-of-service gratuity, to the worker’s family within ten days. A worker can name in writing, during their lifetime, the family member who should receive it. The same article makes the employer bear the cost of preparing and repatriating the body to the home country if the family asks.

The labour law applies to the private sector, including mainland companies. It does not cover federal and local government employees, the armed forces and police, or domestic workers. Employees in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) are under the DIFC’s own employment law, covered further down.

Who the employer pays

The law defines the worker’s family as the spouse, sons and daughters. Within that family, the worker can specify in writing who receives the entitlements. That is the only nomination the labour law mentions, and it is limited to family members.

• The deadline. Ten days from the date of death, or from the date the employer became aware of it. This is shorter than the fourteen days the law allows for paying a worker whose contract ends in the ordinary way.
• No family to pay. Where the entitlements cannot be handed to the family or to those entitled to receive them, the law lets the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) set up a way of holding them.
• Repatriation. The employer bears the cost of preparing and transporting the body to the worker’s home country or place of residence, if the family requests it.

How the gratuity is worked out

Article 51 sets the gratuity for a full-time foreign worker who has completed at least one year of continuous service. It is calculated on the last basic wage, not the full package with allowances.

• 21 days’ basic wage for each of the first five years of service;
• 30 days’ basic wage for each year after that;
• a proportionate amount for part of a year, once the first year is complete;
• unpaid days of absence are left out of the service period;
• the total cannot exceed two years’ wage.

The law counts a month as 30 days, so a day’s basic wage is the monthly basic wage divided by 30. An example with illustrative figures:

Article 51 also lets the employer deduct amounts the worker owed under the law or a judgment. The implementing regulation lists what those can be, such as an outstanding loan from the employer or money paid in excess of what was due. Workers under part-time and other patterns, and employers in an alternative savings scheme approved by the Cabinet, follow their own rules.

Unpaid salary, leave and other amounts

The gratuity is often not the only money owed. Article 15 covers “any wages or financial entitlements” due, which in practice includes:

• Salary to the date of death. Wages earned and not yet paid, including any part month.
• Unused annual leave. The implementing regulation says that when service ends, the worker is paid a cash allowance for the balance of their annual leave, calculated on the basic wage.
• Anything in the contract. Bonuses, commissions or other benefits the contract or company rules say are due.

A death caused by work

If the death resulted from a work injury or an occupational disease, Article 37 adds compensation equal to 24 months of the worker’s basic wage, at least 18,000 AED and at most 200,000 AED. This is on top of the gratuity and the other entitlements, not instead of them, and it is shared among the worker’s eligible beneficiaries under the implementing regulation.

Gratuity, the estate and your will

This is where families are most often unsure. The labour law answers one question: who the employer hands the money to. It sends it to the family, or to the family member the worker named. The text does not go on to say how the family shares it among themselves, or how that payment relates to a will.

What that means for planning is straightforward.

• Make the two consistent. If your written nomination with your employer names your spouse, a will that leaves your UAE estate to your spouse points the same way. Instructions that pull in different directions are what lead to disputes.
• Think about people outside the definition. The labour law’s family is a spouse and children. An unmarried partner, a parent or a sibling is not in it, and cannot be the nominated family member. If you want to provide for them, your will is where that happens, from the rest of your estate.
• The money still lands in an account. A gratuity paid into an account in your sole name after your death meets a frozen account. The detail is in what happens to a UAE bank account without a will, and it is one more reason the nominated person should be someone with their own account.

The rest of your UAE estate, from savings to property, follows your registered will or, if there is none, the default rules in Federal Decree-Law 41 of 2022. Those rules are set out in UAE inheritance law for expats.

DIFC employees and DEWS

The DIFC has its own employment law. For current service, it has employers pay monthly contributions, based on the basic wage, into a qualifying savings scheme. The DIFC’s own scheme is DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS).

On a member’s death, the employer informs the plan and a death claim begins. The plan’s administrator says payment is at the trustee’s discretion under the scheme rules, and that the trustee takes into account any beneficiary nomination the member made before their death. Members nominate beneficiaries, with a percentage for each, through their online DEWS account. If you work in the DIFC, check that your nomination is there and up to date, particularly after a marriage, a birth or a separation.

Life insurance through your employer

Some employers in the UAE provide group life cover as a benefit. It is not part of the gratuity, and the labour law does not set its amount or who it pays. Those come from the policy. Three questions are worth putting to HR:

• Am I covered, and for how much?
• Who does the policy pay, and can I name a beneficiary?
• Does the cover stop when I leave, or can it be continued?

Write the answers down and keep them with your will papers, so the person dealing with your affairs knows the policy exists.

If the money is not paid

Under Article 54, a dispute between an employer and an employee “or their beneficiaries” goes first to MOHRE, which tries to settle it and can decide claims of up to 50,000 AED itself. Larger disputes it cannot settle are referred to the courts. Article 55 exempts claims by workers or their heirs from court fees where the amount is not more than 100,000 AED. Claims must be brought within two years of the end of the employment relationship, so a family waiting on unpaid entitlements should not let the matter drift.

What to do next

Two steps cover most of this. Give your employer a written nomination for your end-of-service entitlements, and make a will registered in the UAE for everything else, so the two point the same way. The ADJD route costs 950 AED in court fees for one will and covers assets in all seven emirates. If you are wondering whether you need one at all, do I need a will in the UAE sets out who it matters most for.

Our free assessment takes a few minutes and tells you which route fits before you pay anything. MyHaven is not a law firm and this guide is general information, not legal advice. The labour law itself is published by MOHRE at mohre.gov.ae.

MyHaven is not a law firm and this guide is not legal advice. It explains how the process works so you can make your own decisions. What that means