How many sick leave days are UAE employees entitled to?

Up to 90 days per year (consecutive or not), available once an employee has completed their probation period. Pay during those 90 days is tiered: full pay for the first 15 days, half pay for the next 30 days, and unpaid for the remaining 45 days.

Is sick leave paid during probation in the UAE?

An employee isn't entitled to paid sick leave until they've completed their probation period, though an employer can choose to grant unpaid sick leave during probation if a medical certificate supports it.

Can an employer require a medical certificate for sick leave?

Yes — sick leave pay is generally conditional on the employee submitting a medical certificate from a licensed medical practitioner or authority confirming they're unfit for work.

September 2026 · 4 min read

UAE Sick Leave Rules Explained: How Sick Pay Actually Works

Sick leave in the UAE isn't a flat "X paid days" like annual leave — the pay rate steps down the longer someone is out. Here's the actual structure.

The short answer

Once an employee has completed probation, they're entitled to up to 90 days of sick leave per year (they don't need to be consecutive), with pay split into three tiers:

First 15 daysFull pay
Next 30 daysHalf pay
Remaining 45 daysUnpaid

So a single continuous illness lasting the full 90 days costs the employer 15 days at full pay plus 15 days at half pay (half of the next 30) — the last 45 days are unpaid, but the job itself is still protected during that time.

A medical certificate is required

Sick pay is conditional on the employee providing a medical certificate from a licensed doctor or medical authority confirming they're unfit to work. Without one, an absence is just an unauthorized absence, not sick leave.

Probation is the catch most people miss

An employee isn't entitled to paid sick leave during their probation period. An employer can still choose to grant unpaid sick leave if a medical certificate supports it, but the paid-tier structure above only kicks in once probation is complete.

What this means for payroll, practically

Because the pay rate changes partway through an absence, sick leave is one of the few things that genuinely needs day-by-day tracking rather than a simple "leave taken" checkbox — the 16th day of the same illness is paid differently than the 1st. Getting this wrong either underpays someone owed full pay, or overpays past the point the law requires it.

This is a general explanation of UAE sick leave entitlement under the UAE Labour Law (Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021) for HR teams doing their own planning — not legal advice for a specific case. Confirm anything unusual (recurring vs. single illness, disputed medical certificates) with a UAE labour lawyer before acting on it.

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