Working hours and overtime pay under UAE labour law

Under the UAE Labour Law, Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, normal private-sector working hours are at most 8 a day or 48 a week, and 2 hours a day shorter in Ramadan. Overtime is limited to 2 hours a day as a rule and paid at the basic hourly wage plus at least 25%, or plus at least 50% between 10 pm and 4 am, except for shift workers.

Key takeaways

• Normal working hours are at most 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week, reduced by 2 hours a day in Ramadan.
• Overtime may not exceed 2 hours a day unless the Implementing Regulation allows more, and total working hours may not exceed 144 hours every 3 weeks.
• Overtime pay is the basic hourly wage plus at least 25%, or plus at least 50% between 10 pm and 4 am for workers not on shifts.
• Work on the weekly rest day or a public holiday earns a substitute day off, or the day's wage plus at least 50% of the basic wage for the day.
• A break of at least 1 hour is due after 5 consecutive hours, and work directly under the sun in open places is not allowed from 12:30 pm to 3 pm between 15 June and 15 September.

On this page 11 sections

Normal working hours

The law sets a ceiling on normal hours, and the employment contract or the employer’s work regulations set the actual schedule within it. Any time worked beyond normal hours is overtime (Article 19(2)).

Maximum normal working hours

8 hours a day / 48 hours a week

The maximum normal working hours for private-sector workers are 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week.

Article 17 adds four further rules:

• Sector changes. The Cabinet can increase or reduce daily hours for some economic sectors or categories of workers.
• Commuting. Time spent travelling between home and the workplace is not working time, except for some categories of workers named in the Implementing Regulation.
• Part-time and multiple employers. A worker on a pattern other than full time cannot be asked by any of their employers to work more than the hours agreed in the contract without the worker’s written consent.
• Remote work. When a worker works remotely, inside or outside the UAE, with the employer’s approval, the employer can require specific working hours.

Breaks, rest days and the midday ban

The law requires a break after at most 5 hours in a row and at least one paid rest day a week, and a ministerial resolution stops work under the sun in the middle of the day in summer.

Break after 5 consecutive hours

Break of at least 1 hour after 5 consecutive hours

A worker may not work more than 5 consecutive hours without a break or breaks totalling at least 1 hour, and break time is not counted as working hours; establishments working in shifts and some job categories, such as field jobs, arrange hours and breaks according to the nature of the work.

Because breaks are not working time, a worker on an 8-hour day with a 1-hour break spends 9 hours at work, for example, and only 8 of them count towards the daily limit.

The weekly rest day is at least one paid day, set in the contract or the work regulations (Article 21, which the English translation calls the “weekend”). The Cabinet can increase it, and u.ae notes that companies may grant more rest days.

Summer midday work ban

12:30 pm to 3 pm, 15 June to 15 September

Under Ministerial Resolution No. 44 of 2022, work performed directly under the sun and in open places is not allowed between 12:30 pm and 3 pm from 15 June to 15 September every year.

The ban covers work done directly under the sun in open places, so indoor work is not affected. u.ae points to separate rules on the midday break, which this guide does not cover. The break, rest-day and overtime rules above apply to outdoor workers as to everyone else.

Working hours in Ramadan

Normal hours are shorter by 2 hours a day for the whole of Ramadan, so a standard 8-hour day becomes a 6-hour day.

Ramadan working hours

2 hours a day less

During the holy month of Ramadan, private-sector working hours are reduced by 2 hours a day.

The Labour Law leaves Ramadan hours to its Implementing Regulation (Article 17(4)), and the government portal u.ae states the 2-hour reduction. The rule applies every Ramadan; only the dates change, since Ramadan follows the Islamic calendar.

How much overtime is allowed

An employer can require up to 2 hours of overtime a day, and a second limit caps all working time every 3 weeks.

Overtime limits

2 hours a day; 144 hours per 3 weeks

An employer may require overtime of no more than 2 hours a day, except under the conditions and rules set by the Implementing Regulation, and in all cases total working hours may not exceed 144 hours every 3 weeks.

The 144 hours is total working time, normal hours and overtime together, not an allowance of overtime hours. The arithmetic shows why the two limits work together:

• Three weeks at the 48-hour weekly maximum: 3 × 48 = 144 hours. A worker whose normal week is 48 hours has already reached the 3-week total.
• Three weeks of a 40-hour, five-day week: 3 × 40 = 120 hours, which leaves 144 - 120 = 24 hours of overtime in that window. The 40-hour week is an illustration.

More than 2 hours of overtime a day is possible only under the conditions of the Implementing Regulation, Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022.

How overtime is paid

Each overtime hour is paid at the basic hourly wage plus a premium: at least 25% in general, and at least 50% for overtime between 10 pm and 4 am, except for shift workers. How the pay itself reaches the worker is covered in how salaries are paid through WPS.

Ordinary overtime: at least 25% extra

Overtime pay

Basic hourly wage + at least 25%

Overtime is paid at the normal hourly wage, calculated on the basic wage, plus at least 25% of that wage.

In practice each overtime hour pays at least 1.25 times the basic hourly wage. The 25% is a floor: a contract or the work regulations can pay a higher premium, but not a lower one.

Night overtime: at least 50% extra

Night overtime pay

Basic hourly wage + at least 50% (10 pm to 4 am)

Overtime worked between 10 pm and 4 am is paid at the normal hourly wage, calculated on the basic wage, plus at least 50% of that wage; shift workers are excluded from this rule.

Night overtime pays at least 1.5 times the basic hourly wage. The higher rate is for overtime hours in that window, not for normal hours that happen to fall at night. A shift worker’s overtime between 10 pm and 4 am still earns the ordinary premium of at least 25%.

Working out the basic hourly wage

The premium is calculated on the basic wage, without allowances, and the law does not say how to turn a monthly basic wage into an hourly rate.

Basic wage and wage

Basic wage excludes allowances; wage includes them

The UAE Labour Law defines the basic wage as the wage stated in the employment contract and paid for the work on a monthly, weekly, daily, hourly or piecework basis, not including any allowances or benefits in kind; the wage is the basic wage plus the cash allowances and benefits in kind allocated to the worker under the contract or the law.

The examples on this page divide the monthly basic wage by 30 days and then by 8 normal hours a day. The 30 comes from Article 67, which counts a month as 30 days and a year as 365 days for the law’s periods and dates; the 8 is the normal daily limit. This is an illustration, not an official formula. Another approach divides a year’s basic wage by 365 days before dividing by the daily hours, which gives a slightly lower rate. A contract or the work regulations may state the method.

The overtime pay calculator uses 30 days and 8 hours by default and lets you change both.

Work on rest days and public holidays

Work on the weekly rest day or on a public holiday is compensated in one of two ways: another day off, or a day’s pay with a premium of at least 50% of the basic wage for the day.

Work on the weekly rest day

Substitute day off or day's wage + at least 50%

A worker required to work on the weekly rest day set in the contract or work regulations gets either another day off or that day's wage plus at least 50% of the basic wage for the day; workers may not be required to work more than 2 consecutive rest days, except day workers.

Work on a public holiday

Substitute day off or day's wage + at least 50%

A worker is entitled to fully paid days off on the public holidays set by Cabinet resolution; a worker required to work on a public holiday gets another day off for each day worked, or that day's wage at the normal working-day rate plus at least 50% of the basic wage for the day.

In the law’s words, the paid option is the wage for that day “according to the wage established for normal working days”, plus an increase of at least 50% of the basic wage for the day. The 50% part is clearly on the basic wage. The text does not say in so many words whether the first part includes allowances, so the worked example below states its assumption. How paid days off and annual leave work is covered in annual leave and other paid leave.

Shift workers and excluded categories

The Decree-Law excludes shift workers from the night overtime rate (Article 19(3)), and Article 18 lets establishments that work in shifts arrange hours and breaks to suit the shift pattern.

Article 20 lets the Implementing Regulation name categories of workers who may be excluded from the working-hours rules, so some roles can fall outside the limits described here.

The Labour Law itself does not cover federal and local government employees, the armed forces, police and security, or domestic workers, who have their own law (u.ae). The financial free zones also have their own employment laws: in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) the Employment Regulations 2024 set separate rules on working time and leave, and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has its own Employment Law, DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019.

Worked example: a month with overtime

Worked example

Basic wage of AED 4,800 with night and public holiday work

The wage, the hours and the holiday are illustrations. The divisor of 30 days and 8 hours is an assumption, since the law does not fix one. The worker is not on shifts.

1. A day’s basic wage: AED 4,800 ÷ 30 = AED 160. Hourly basic wage: AED 160 ÷ 8 = AED 20.
2. 8 ordinary overtime hours: 8 × AED 20 × 1.25 = AED 200.00.
3. 3 overtime hours between 10 pm and 4 am: 3 × AED 20 × 1.5 = AED 90.00.
4. One public holiday worked and paid rather than replaced by a day off: the day’s basic wage of AED 160 plus 50% of it (AED 80) = AED 240.00. Both parts are taken on the basic wage, as the calculator does.
5. Total: AED 200.00 + AED 90.00 + AED 240.00 = AED 530.00.

Extra pay for the month at the legal minimum rates: AED 530.00.

The divisor changes the result. On a 365-day year, the day’s basic wage is AED 4,800 × 12 ÷ 365 = AED 157.81 and the hourly wage AED 19.73, so the same month gives AED 197.26 + AED 88.77 + AED 236.71 = AED 522.74.

Hours and overtime at a glance

Contracts, leave, gratuity and the other rules of private-sector work are collected in the Employment and payroll guides.