Paying a domestic worker's wages in the UAE: the rules

What the law says about the wage

Federal Decree-Law No. 9 of 2022 Concerning Domestic Workers, as shown in English on the UAE Legislation portal, distinguishes two terms. The basic wage is the wage stipulated in the employment agreement for the work, without allowances or benefits in kind. The wage is the basic wage plus all allowances, bonuses and other benefits stipulated in the agreement.^[1] The employment agreement must state the amount of the wage, the basic wage and the method of payment, and must be on the form approved by the ministry.^[1]

Article 15 is the central rule. The monthly wage is paid in UAE dirhams within a period not exceeding ten days from its due date, and the ministry may set the system it considers most appropriate for the manner and guarantee of payment. The worker is entitled to wages from the date of entry into the State or from the date of status adjustment, and payment is evidenced by a written receipt or any other means of proof the ministry decides.^[1] The government portal's summary of employer obligations states the same ten-day limit.^[2]

The text read for this guide is the version on the portal, which lists amendments and a last update of 29 July 2024. The ministry's English translation of the original 2022 text carries the same wage-timing rule. Executive regulations and ministerial resolutions fill in procedure, and they were not read for this guide.^[1][2]

The Wage Protection System

The ministry's Awareness Package for Employers of Domestic Workers sets out the system in practice. It says all employers pay their domestic workers' wages on the due date through the ministry's Wage Protection System, and that the wage is due from the first day of the month until the tenth of the same month.^[3] The guide lists professions it says are paid through the system and professions paid through it on an optional basis. The occupations covered by the law include housemaid, nanny or babysitter, cook, private tutor, home nurse and personal or family driver, and the list in the guide should be checked for the occupation concerned.^[3][2]

The guide also lists workers exempt from the system's procedures: a domestic worker who has a labour complaint pending in court and is not employed with the employer, a worker against whom a work absence report has been filed, and a new worker within 30 days of the employment contract start date.^[3] The government portal lists Ministerial Resolution No. 675 of 2022 among the related resolutions covering certain domestic work professions under the Wage Protection System, and does not detail its provisions.^[2]

Receipts and records

Payment must be provable. The decree-law names a written receipt or other proof decided by the ministry, and it requires a recruitment agency to hand the employer a booklet of wage receipts or another mechanism that ensures the worker receives wages through the mechanisms and channels the ministry specifies.^[1] The portal adds that recruitment offices must give the employer records of wage payments made through a ministry-approved mechanism.^[2]

A household that pays through an approved channel will have a record produced by the channel. A household that pays any other way relies on the receipt. The sources read do not say what happens when neither exists, and they do not set a retention period for the employer's own records. One practical consequence follows from the claims period: lawsuits for rights under the decree-law are not heard after three months from the end of the working relationship, so the record is most likely to be needed in the months after the contract ends.^[1]

Deductions and payments from the worker

Article 16 allows a deduction from the wage in a defined case. Where a worker's grave mistake or violation of instructions causes harm by losing or destroying the employer's tools, machines, products or materials, the employer, with the worker's consent or with the ministry's approval if the worker does not agree, may deduct an amount not exceeding a quarter of what is necessary to redress the damage as estimated by the ministry. If neither party accepts the ministry's decision, the dispute goes to court. Deductions to pay debts under a judicial ruling may not exceed a quarter of the wage.^[1]

Separately, the employer must refrain from receiving, directly or indirectly, any amounts or prices from the worker unless the decree-law, its regulations, ministry decisions or the approved contract form provide for it, and must ensure the worker's right to keep their own identification documents.^[1][2] Article 17 suspends the wage of a worker held in pretrial detention, with rules for what is paid afterwards if the case does not proceed or ends in acquittal.^[1]

Leave pay, sick pay and rest days

Several entitlements are paid amounts and not only time off. Annual leave is no less than 30 days for each year and is paid before it is taken; where service is more than six months and less than a year, the worker is entitled to two days for each month. If the contract expires or is terminated before leave has been taken, the worker is entitled to cash compensation equal to their wages for the leave days due, calculated on the last wage received.^[1] The ministry's guide gives worked examples, including 16 days of basic salary for eight months at two days a month and 35 days for 14 months at 2.5 days a month.^[3]

Sick leave is up to 30 days in each contractual year on a medical report from an approved health authority, with the first 15 days paid and the next 15 at half pay, and no paid or half-paid sick leave where the illness resulted from the worker's misconduct.^[1] If the worker is required to work on the weekly rest day, they are entitled to an alternative day of rest or payment of the equivalent of a day's wage.^[1]

When the contract ends

The employer must pay all the worker's financial entitlements within ten days from the date the agreement expires, in the cases and manner the executive regulations specify.^[1] If the employer terminates for a reason not attributed to the worker, the employer must provide a ticket for return to the worker's country and pay any other dues owed.^[1] If the worker dies in service, the employer pays the heirs the wage for the month of death plus other entitlements.^[1]

The text says only that the Council of Ministers may approve systems and mechanisms for calculating and paying an end-of-service gratuity, so the decree-law itself sets no gratuity formula.^[1] The government portal's page did not describe a gratuity or final settlement process either.^[2] A household with a question about final dues should ask the ministry for the current decision.

If wages are not paid

The ministry's guide describes an insurance scheme covering the financial dues of domestic workers, including unpaid wages, where the employer refrains from paying, up to a maximum of AED 20,000 for a period of 30 months. It says the employer must buy a policy for all workers as a prerequisite for issuing a work permit.^[3]

The decree-law gives either party a route through the ministry. If a dispute is not settled amicably it goes to the ministry, which may refer it to the court of first instance with a recommendation, and for claims not exceeding AED 50,000 the ministry decides by a decision with the force of a writ of execution. Either party may file a lawsuit within 15 working days of being notified of that decision.^[1] Workers' lawsuits are exempt from judicial fees and their consideration is urgent.^[1] For violations of provisions with no specific penalty, the text sets fines of AED 5,000 to AED 1,000,000, multiplied by the number of workers concerned up to a maximum of AED 10,000,000, and doubled on repetition within a year.^[1]

What these sources do not settle

The employer guide is undated, and the government portal's tables of fines are published as images that could not be read as text. The executive regulations, which carry procedure and administrative penalties, were not read. The rules and amounts may change. The ministry and the government portal are the places to confirm the current position, and this guide is general information and not legal advice.

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