What is salary in lieu of notice and when does it apply in the UAE?

Salary in lieu of notice is a payment equal to the wage you would have earned had you worked your notice period. The Labour Law lets either party end a contract with written notice, normally between thirty and ninety days as fixed in your contract, and it allows the terminating party to pay compensation for that period instead of having it worked. The payment should be based on your wage as defined in your contract, so in principle it reflects what you would actually have been paid for those days rather than a stripped-down figure, and your other entitlements remain due in full: end-of-service gratuity, payment for unused annual leave, and any contractual benefits owed on termination. You generally cannot insist on physically serving the notice once the employer has chosen to pay in lieu; that choice belongs to the side ending the contract. What you can do is check the arithmetic: confirm the number of notice days, the wage figure used, and that the final settlement itemises gratuity and leave separately from the notice payment. Your visa cancellation and grace period then follow the usual process. Before signing a final settlement, have a licensed UAE lawyer verify the figure includes everything you are owed.