UAE Labour Law (FDL 33/2021): Full Guide and Where the Official PDF Lives

Search for the "UAE new labour law 2022 PDF" and you will find dozens of copies — on law-firm blogs, HR portals, file-sharing sites. Most of them are outdated the day you download them, because the law has been amended since it first took effect, and a 2022-vintage copy silently misses those changes. The official, current text is free, and it lives in exactly two places.

Direct answer. The "new UAE labour law 2022" is Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relationships. It was issued in November 2021, took effect on 2 February 2022, and replaced the old Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 (see the UAE Government portal's private-sector employment law page). The official PDF is published free of charge on the UAE Legislation portal's page for the decree-law, which offers a direct download, and by the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation on mohre.gov.ae, which publishes a consolidated version that includes the amendments. LEXAI does not host the PDF — always take it from those official sources. This guide explains what the law actually says, so you know which article to open once you have it.

What "the new labour law 2022" actually is

The law everyone calls the 2022 labour law is formally a 2021 instrument, and the date mismatch is why so many searches go wrong.

Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 was signed on 15 November 2021 and came into force on 2 February 2022 — which is why HR teams, news coverage and search queries all attached "2022" to it. It expressly repealed Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, the labour law that had governed private-sector employment in the UAE for four decades. If a document, contract template or blog post you are reading still cites "Federal Law No. 8 of 1980" as current law, it is out of date. You can read a structured summary of the decree-law on LEXAI's legislation page for FDL 33/2021.

Two companion instruments matter almost as much as the decree-law itself:

• Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 — the Executive Regulations. This is where much of the operational detail lives: work permit types, contract procedures, and how the flexible work models actually run. It has its own page and PDF on the UAE Legislation portal.
• Amendments — the decree-law has been amended since it took effect. The UAE Government portal's employment law page cites Federal Decree-Law No. 20 of 2023 amending certain provisions, and MOHRE's consolidated PDF is titled as the law "and its amendments" for exactly this reason. This is why downloading a copy that was scanned in 2022 is a mistake: you get the original text without the changes.

One more boundary worth knowing: domestic workers are not covered by FDL 33/2021. They fall under a separate instrument, Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 on Domestic Workers. And the DIFC and ADGM financial free zones operate their own employment regimes for entities registered inside them; most other free zone employees fall under the federal decree-law.

Where the official PDF lives — and why the source matters

Only two channels publish the authoritative text: the UAE Legislation portal and MOHRE. Everything else is a copy of unknown vintage.

Here is where to go, in order of preference:

1. [uaelegislation.gov.ae — the decree-law's official page](https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1541). This is the UAE's federal legislation portal. The page shows the law's status, links its amendments, and offers the PDF as a direct download in English and Arabic. Because the portal is maintained as legislation changes, this is the copy to trust.
2. [MOHRE — mohre.gov.ae](https://www.mohre.gov.ae). The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation administers the law and publishes a consolidated PDF of the decree-law together with its amendments, alongside the Executive Regulations and ministerial resolutions.
3. [u.ae — the Government portal's employment section](https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/jobs/employment-in-the-private-sector/employment-laws-and-regulations-in-the-private-sector). Not the raw PDF, but plain-language official summaries of every major topic — useful when you want the rule without the statutory drafting.

Why be strict about this? Three practical reasons. First, amendments: a pre-amendment copy states rules that no longer apply, and nothing on the file warns you. Second, translations: unofficial English translations circulate with real errors, while the portal's English version is the one the Government itself publishes. Third, completeness: many floating PDFs are the decree-law alone, without the Executive Regulations that determine how a rule actually operates — reading Article 8 on contracts without Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 gives you half the picture.

Who the law covers

The decree-law applies to private-sector employment relationships across all seven emirates, with a short list of carve-outs.

It covers UAE nationals and foreign employees alike, in mainland companies and in most free zones. The main groups outside it are government and public-sector employees, members of the armed forces, police and security, and domestic workers (who have their own law, as noted above). The DIFC and ADGM apply their own employment laws to entities registered in those two financial free zones.

If you are unsure which regime covers you, the fastest check is your work permit and employer registration: an employer registered with MOHRE means the federal decree-law and MOHRE's complaint machinery apply to you. That distinction decides where a dispute goes later, so it is worth settling early — our guide to filing a labour complaint with MOHRE walks through that machinery step by step.

Contracts, work models and probation

The decree-law moved the UAE to fixed-term employment contracts and recognised several work models beyond traditional full-time.

The headline structural change from the old law: employment contracts under FDL 33/2021 are fixed-term. The UAE Government portal's contracts page sets out the recognised work models, which include full-time, part-time, temporary and flexible work — a menu the old 1980 law never had. The permitted contract durations and renewal mechanics have been adjusted by amendment since 2022, which is precisely the kind of detail you should read in the current consolidated PDF rather than a 2022 copy.

On probation, the rules are clear and worth quoting because they are so often misstated:

• The probation period may not exceed six months and may not be extended or renewed, per the UAE Government portal's guidance.
• An employer terminating during probation must give 14 days' written notice.
• An employee resigning during probation to join another UAE employer must give at least one month's written notice; an employee resigning to leave the UAE must give 14 days' written notice.
• Time served on probation counts as part of the employee's period of service once confirmed.

Working hours, overtime and leave

The core numbers here come straight from the official guidance, and they are the ones employees look up most.

Per the UAE Government portal's working hours page, normal working hours in the private sector are 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week, reduced by 2 hours a day during Ramadan. Overtime is regulated and compensated at premium rates set by the decree-law and its regulations; the exact overtime percentages and the sectors with modified hours are set by FDL 33/2021 and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 and can change — confirm the current figures in the consolidated official text or with MOHRE.

Leave entitlements, per the Government portal's leave pages:

• [Annual leave](/dictionary/annual-leave) — 30 calendar days once you have completed one year of service; 2 days per month if you have completed six months but less than a year.
• [Sick leave](/dictionary/sick-leave) — up to 90 days per year of service after probation, paid at full pay for the first 15 days, half pay for the next 30, and unpaid for the remaining 45.
• [Maternity leave](/dictionary/maternity-leave) — 60 days: 45 at full pay and 15 at half pay.

Other leave types — parental, bereavement, study — exist in the decree-law with their own conditions; read the leave chapter in the official PDF for the full list rather than relying on a summary, because the conditions attached to each are as important as the day counts.

Ending employment: notice, dismissal and gratuity

This is the chapter of the law most disputes are fought over, and the one where reading the actual text pays off most.

Notice. Termination of an ongoing contract requires written notice, and the notice period is the one stated in your contract within the band the decree-law fixes. The exact minimum and maximum notice periods are set by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and can change; read the notice provisions in the official consolidated PDF and confirm how they apply to your contract with MOHRE or a licensed UAE lawyer.

Dismissal. The decree-law lists lawful grounds for termination and, separately, the narrow grounds on which an employer may dismiss without notice. Dismissal outside the lawful framework can qualify as unlawful and give rise to compensation — our guide to arbitrary dismissal compensation in the UAE covers how that claim works under the current law. If you remember "Article 121" from the old 1980 law as the resignation-without-notice provision, note that the old law is repealed; see what became of Article 121 and which provision of the new law now does that job.

Gratuity. End-of-service gratuity survives under FDL 33/2021. Per the UAE Government portal's end-of-service guidance, a full-time foreign employee who completes at least one year of service is entitled to 21 days' basic salary for each of the first five years of service and 30 days' basic salary for each year beyond five, with the total capped at two years' wage. Gratuity is calculated on basic salary only, not allowances. The mechanics — what counts as service, deductions, and payment timing — are set out in our full guide to the UAE gratuity law.

If you have a dispute: the sequence the law expects

Labour disputes in the UAE do not start in court — they start at MOHRE.

The decree-law channels employment disputes through the Ministry first: you file a complaint, MOHRE attempts settlement, and only if that fails does the matter get referred onward to the courts. Filing is done through MOHRE's official channels, and the process, timelines and any applicable thresholds are set by MOHRE and can change — confirm the current procedure with MOHRE or a licensed UAE lawyer. Our step-by-step guide to filing a MOHRE labour complaint covers the practical side, including what documents to have ready.

Deadlines matter more than most employees realise. Employment claims are subject to limitation periods fixed by the decree-law, so a gratuity or wage claim parked for too long can be lost entirely. If real money or an ongoing dismissal is at stake, take advice early rather than after the settlement stage has failed.

What to do now

Get the current text from the official source, then act on the article that matters to you.

1. Download the current consolidated PDF from the UAE Legislation portal — not from a blog, and not a copy dated 2022.
2. Read the specific chapter that touches your situation — contracts, leave, termination or gratuity — together with Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 where procedure matters.
3. Cross-check the plain-language summaries on u.ae's employment section to make sure you have understood the rule.
4. If a dispute is live, start the MOHRE complaint process before any limitation period runs.
5. If the amounts are significant — unpaid wages, gratuity, an unlawful dismissal — speak to a specialist before you sign anything.

If you need representation, you can find and compare verified UAE labour and employment lawyers on LEXAI and contact one directly. LEXAI lists and verifies lawyers; you engage and pay the lawyer directly, off-platform, on terms you agree with them. You can also use our AI legal assistant to understand which articles of the decree-law apply to your situation before you make the call.

This article is general information about the UAE labour law. It is not legal advice on your situation.