Paternity Leave in UAE: 5 Paid Days, Rules & Refusals 2026

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Direct answer. Yes — fathers in the UAE private sector are entitled to 5 paid working days of paternity leave, to be taken within 6 months of the child's birth. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (Article 30) introduced the entitlement, and the UAE was the first GCC country to legislate it for private-sector workers. This article covers eligibility, how to request the leave, employer obligations, the federal-government variant, and what to do when an employer refuses.

Paternity Leave in UAE: the One-Paragraph Answer Fathers in the UAE private sector get 5 paid working days of paternity leave under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (the UAE Labour Law) Article 30. The leave covers fathers of a newborn child and must be taken within six months of the birth. Salary is paid in full during the five days. The UAE was the first country in the GCC to enact statutory paid paternity leave for private-sector workers, originally introduced by Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2020 amending the old labour law, and now carried forward in the 2021 law. - Entitlement: 5 paid working days

• Sector: private sector (federal labour law)
• Window: within 6 months of the child's birth
• Pay: full wage (basic plus allowances), same as a normal working day
• Source: Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Article 30 (parental leave) This is the rule on paper. The rest of this guide explains when it applies, who is excluded, what to do when an employer refuses it, and how it compares to maternity leave under the same article. ## What the 2021 UAE Labour Law actually says Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 sits over every private-sector employment relationship in the UAE mainland and most free zones. Parental leave is set out in Article 30. The article gives a working parent — father or mother — 5 paid working days of parental leave to care for a newborn child. Both parents are entitled. The leave is paid at full wage. It can be taken continuously or split across separate days. The six-month window starts on the child's date of birth. The text is parent-neutral. So this is not strictly a "paternity" benefit in the sense of being only for fathers. It is parental leave that fathers can use as 5 paid working days, and that mothers can use on top of the longer maternity leave granted by the same article (more on the comparison below). Key statutory facts to remember: - The 5 days are working days, not calendar days
• The leave is in addition to annual leave, not deducted from it
• The employer cannot ask the employee to make up the hours later
• The right exists from day one of employment — there is no minimum service requirement, unlike maternity-leave full-pay which historically required a service threshold ## Who is eligible for paternity leave in UAE Not every UAE worker is on the federal labour law. Eligibility for the 5-day paternity benefit depends on which legal regime governs the employment contract. - Private-sector mainland employees under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021: eligible
• Most free-zone employees (free zones that follow the federal labour law): eligible
• [DIFC](/en/dictionary/difc) employees under DIFC Employment Law No. 2 of 2019 (as amended by DIFC Law No. 4 of 2020): eligible — DIFC grants 5 working days of paid paternity leave separately
• [ADGM](/en/dictionary/adgm) employees under ADGM Employment Regulations 2019 (as amended): eligible — ADGM grants 5 working days of paid paternity leave separately
• Federal-government employees: covered by Federal Decree-Law No. 49 of 2022 on Human Resources in the Federal Government, which provides 3 days of paid paternity leave
• Domestic workers under Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022: paternity leave is not specified in the same form; check the standard MoHRE contract If you are unsure which regime applies, the simplest test is the entity that issued your work permit: a MoHRE permit means federal labour law; a DIFC permit means DIFC employment law; an ADGM permit means ADGM regulations. ## Employment Lawyers in Dubai If the employer is in Dubai mainland or a Dubai free zone, the federal labour law and MoHRE supervision apply. A Dubai employment lawyer can read the contract clauses, the refusal email, and the offer letter together — that combination is what determines the strongest escalation path. You can browse verified employment lawyers in Dubai on LEXAI and contact one directly through their profile. Each lawyer publishes their own consultation rate and you pay them directly at that rate; LEXAI does not process the payment. ## When to take the 5 days The statutory window is six months from the child's date of birth. Inside that window the employee chooses when to take the leave. Practical patterns we see in UAE workplaces: - Right after the birth: 5 consecutive working days starting on the day of birth or the next working day
• Split: 2 or 3 days at the birth, the remaining days saved for a hospital follow-up or for when the partner's family help leaves
• End of maternity-leave handover: father takes the 5 days as the mother's 60-day maternity leave ends, easing the return-to-work transition The employer cannot dictate the split. Article 30 puts the choice with the employee. The employee should give reasonable written notice — there is no statutory notice period for parental leave, but a written request via email or HR portal is the right paper trail. Proof: a birth certificate or hospital discharge note is normal employer evidence. Submit a copy with the leave request. ## Paternity leave vs maternity leave under the same article The same Article 30 covers both. Maternity leave is structured very differently from the 5-day parental leave. - Maternity leave: 60 days total — 45 days at full pay plus 15 days at half pay
• Paternity leave (parental, used by the father): 5 working days at full pay within 6 months of birth
• Additional unpaid maternity: up to 45 days unpaid extension where medically certified
• Special-needs newborn: 30 additional days at full pay for the mother, extendable by another 30 unpaid days
• Miscarriage / stillbirth from week 6 of pregnancy: 45 days maternity leave A common mistake: assuming the father's 5 days come out of the mother's 60. They do not. Both parents have independent entitlements; the same 5-day parental-leave concept exists for the mother in addition to her maternity-leave allocation. ## Common employer refusals — and how to answer them Most refusals fall into one of four patterns. None is a lawful basis to deny the 5 paid days. - "You haven't completed probation yet." Article 30 has no probation gate. Day-one employees qualify.
• "We'll deduct it from your annual leave." The 5 days are statutory parental leave, separate from the 30 working days of annual leave under Article 29. Deduction is unlawful.
• "Take it unpaid." The article fixes the leave at full wage. Withholding salary is a wage-protection violation that MoHRE can review.
• "You missed the window — the baby is four months old." The window is six months. Only after that does the right expire. If you hear any of these, ask for the refusal in writing. A written refusal is the cleanest evidence for a MoHRE complaint and a downstream labour-court claim. ## How to escalate a refusal through MoHRE MoHRE — the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation — supervises private-sector employment in the UAE. Free-zone authorities supervise their own zones; DIFC and ADGM courts have their own routes. The mainland MoHRE route looks like this: 1. Internal request in writing. Email HR or your line manager; attach the birth certificate. Keep the email.

1. Written refusal or silence. If the employer refuses or does not respond within a reasonable period (typically a few working days), the dispute is mature.
2. MoHRE complaint. File a labour complaint via the MoHRE app, the MoHRE call centre (80060), or a Tas'heel centre. The complaint is free.
3. MoHRE [mediation](/en/dictionary/mediation). A MoHRE officer contacts both sides and attempts mediation. Most paternity-leave refusals are resolved at this stage because the law is clear.
4. Labour-court referral. If mediation fails, MoHRE refers the file to the labour court within 14 days for adjudication. Labour-court filings for wage disputes under AED 100,000 are free. DIFC employees use the DIFC Courts Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) for claims up to AED 100,000. ADGM employees use the ADGM Courts. Each free zone has its own first-stage authority before any court referral. If the matter is heading toward a written complaint, a verified UAE employment lawyer can review your file before you file. You can contact an employment lawyer directly through their LEXAI profile; the lawyer publishes their consultation rate and you pay them at that rate, off-platform. ## What "paid" actually means — full wage, not basic Article 30 says the leave is paid at "full wage." UAE labour law defines wage in two layers: - Basic wage: the contractual base figure

• Total wage: basic plus all allowances (housing, transport, etc.) and any contractual variable pay For parental leave, full wage means the total wage — the same amount the employee would have received on a normal working day. Employers sometimes pay only basic during the 5 days. That is a wage shortfall that can be claimed back through MoHRE. ## Public-sector paternity leave is different Federal-government employees are not on Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. They are on Federal Decree-Law No. 49 of 2022 on Human Resources in the Federal Government. That law provides 3 paid days of paternity leave for federal-government fathers — fewer than the private-sector entitlement. Local-government rules vary by emirate. Some emirates grant more generous parental leave for their employees than the federal-government baseline. If you work for a Dubai-government, Abu Dhabi-government, or Sharjah-government entity, check the relevant HR bylaw rather than the federal HR law. For the free LEXAI AI legal assistant, you can ask which UAE law applies to your specific employer type in plain English or Arabic; it will point to the right statute before you talk to a lawyer. ## Free zones — DIFC and ADGM specifics Most free zones in the UAE follow the federal labour law and therefore the 5-day parental-leave rule. The two financial free zones — DIFC and ADGM — have their own employment laws: - DIFC: DIFC Employment Law No. 2 of 2019 (amended by Law No. 4 of 2020) — 5 working days of paid paternity leave; usable within 2 months of birth; must have 12 months of continuous service
• ADGM: ADGM Employment Regulations 2019 (amended 2024) — 5 working days of paid paternity leave; must have at least 12 months of continuous service at the date of birth Note the eligibility difference: the federal law has no service threshold, but DIFC and ADGM both require 12 months of continuous service. A DIFC employee in their first year of service is not entitled to paternity pay under DIFC law — but they can negotiate it contractually. ## Documentation checklist before requesting leave Keep the paperwork simple but complete. UAE labour-court files turn on documents, not testimony. - Original or scanned birth certificate (UAE-issued or attested foreign certificate)
• Marriage certificate if the employer asks for proof of relationship (lawful only where there is a contractual basis)
• Copy of your employment contract and any HR-policy clause referring to parental leave
• Written leave request with dates and the article reference (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Article 30)
• Any WhatsApp or email chain approving or refusing the request Keep the file for at least 12 months. UAE labour-court claims for unpaid wages and entitlements have a one-year limitation period from the date the salary became due. ## Termination during or right after paternity leave UAE labour law does not specifically prohibit termination during the 5-day parental leave the way it protects pregnant employees during maternity leave. But terminations timed to coincide with a parental-leave request often run into two other legal doctrines: - Arbitrary dismissal (Article 47 of the 2021 law): if the reason for termination is unrelated to the work itself — and asserting a statutory right is a strong indicator of arbitrariness — compensation of up to 3 months' wages can be awarded
• Discrimination (Article 4 of the 2021 law and the 2023 amendments): discrimination on family status grounds is prohibited If the timing looks suspicious — termination notice arrives within days of the leave request — a UAE employment lawyer should look at the file before any settlement is signed. Settlement releases often waive the right to challenge. ## Frequently asked questions Is paternity leave in UAE 5 days or 5 working days? Five working days. Weekends and public holidays inside the leave do not count. A 5-day leave starting on a Sunday usually ends on the following Thursday. Can I take paternity leave for an adopted child? The 2021 law speaks about the birth of a child. There is no explicit statutory entitlement for adoption in Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Some employers grant equivalent leave contractually; many do not. Check the contract. Does paternity leave apply to fixed-term and limited contracts? Yes. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 abolished the unlimited-contract type entirely; all contracts are fixed-term now. The 5-day parental leave applies to every contract on the federal labour law regardless of length. My contract says 3 days of paternity leave — does that override the law? No. Statutory minima cannot be reduced by contract. Article 65 of the 2021 law voids any term that gives the employee less than what the law grants. Your 5-day entitlement stands. Can I take the 5 days outside the 6-month window if the birth was complicated? The statute fixes the window at 6 months. Outside that, the entitlement lapses. Negotiate with the employer or use annual leave — there is no statutory extension. Do I need to give notice? There is no statutory notice period for parental leave, but a written request — email or HR portal — is the right approach. Submit the birth certificate as soon as you have it. ## What to do next If you have just had a child and your employer is being unclear about paternity leave, the cheapest first step is to put the request in writing referencing Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, Article 30. Most employers comply once the law is cited. If the refusal continues, contact a verified UAE employment lawyer on LEXAI before filing the MoHRE complaint. A lawyer can review the contract, the refusal email, and the wider employment record together and tell you whether the case is a single-issue parental-leave claim or a broader wage-and-rights file. Pay the lawyer directly at the rate they publish — LEXAI is the directory, not the middle of the transaction.