Can my employer deduct training costs from my end of service gratuity?

A form signed in your first week does not hand the company your gratuity. Training repayment clauses are not automatically void in the UAE — an employer who genuinely funded a course can, in principle, agree recovery terms — but enforcing one is nothing like a free pass to deduct. The employer needs to show a real, documented cost: invoices, what the training was, who delivered it, what was actually paid. A round figure that happens to swallow almost your whole end-of-service, with no breakdown ever shown to you, is exactly the kind of claim UAE courts treat with suspicion. Deductions from a worker's entitlements are restricted by law, and a disputed debt is for a court to award, not for HR to self-serve from your gratuity. So ask in writing for the full breakdown and supporting invoices, refuse to sign any final settlement acknowledging the deduction, and if they withhold the money anyway, file with MOHRE — the burden of proving the cost sits with them. Before you sign anything at all, it is worth letting a licensed UAE employment lawyer read the clause; wording and timing often decide these cases.