If you are planning to quit your job after serving one year in the company, you are very much eligible to receive gratuity that too 21 days’ of remuneration for each year of the first five years of service. Here are more details!
No matter whether you quit your job or are terminated from your services, any employer should calculate gratuity payable to you in accordance with the Federal Law No.8 of 1980 regulating Employment Relations in the UAE (the ‘Employment Law’).
As an employee, you are liable to get gratuity after completing an year of continuous service, provided you fulfil the criteria laid down in Article 132 of the Employment Law, which states: “An employee who has completed a period of one or more years of continuous service shall be entitled to severance pay on the termination of his employment. The days of absence from work without pay shall not be included in calculating the period of service. The severance pay shall be calculated as follows:
- 21 days’ remuneration for each year of the first five years of service
- 30 days’ remuneration for each additional year of service provided that the aggregate amount of severance pay shall not exceed two year’s remuneration
Further, Article 137 of the Employment Law states: “Where an employee, who is bound by a contract of unlimited duration leaves his work of his own accord after continuous service of not less than one year and not more than three years, he shall be entitled to one-third of the severance pay provided for in the preceding article; where the continuous period of service exceeds three years but does not exceed five years, he shall be entitled to two-third of such severance pay; where the continuous period of service exceeds five years, he shall be entitled to the full severance pay.”
On the contrary, if you are a contract based employee and leave the job before the expiry of the contract, you will not be entitled to severance pay unless your continuous period of service exceeds five years.
Having said that, according to Article 139 of the Employment Law, there are two conditions where the employee won’t be entitled for gratuity payment:
- If he is dismissed from service for any of the reasons specified in Article 120 of this Law or if he leaves his work in order to avoid being dismissed in accordance with that Article
- If he leaves his work of his own accord and without notice, otherwise than in either of cases specified in Article 121 of this Law (in the case of contract of unlimited duration) or before completing five years of continuous service (in case of contracts for a limited period)