What is in a final settlement
Gratuity is the part everybody calculates and it is rarely the whole cheque. This page sets out the other components, what governs each, when the money is legally due, and which parts this site can put a number on — and which it cannot.
What a final settlement is made of
“Final settlement”, “end-of-service benefits” and “EOSB” are used interchangeably in the UAE, and they are broader than gratuity. The gratuity is the line most people can check; the others are the ones disputes are usually about.
| Component | What it is | Can this site calculate it? |
|---|---|---|
| End-of-service gratuity | The statutory entitlement earned by your period of service, computed on your last basic wage. | Yes — the calculator, with every step shown. |
| Outstanding wages | Salary earned up to your last day and not yet paid. | No — it is your own payslip arithmetic, not a statutory formula. |
| Untaken annual leave | Leave you accrued and never took, paid out rather than taken. A separate entitlement from gratuity, on its own basis. | No — the accrual and pay basis are not sourced here. What is known. |
| Notice, or pay in lieu of it | Either worked, or paid instead. Whether it is worked changes what your last day is — and your last day is what the gratuity is measured to. | No — notice lengths are not sourced here. Why it still matters. |
| Repatriation, where the contract provides it | A return airfare or its cash equivalent, depending on what your contract says. | No — it is a contractual term, not a statutory figure. |
| Deductions | Amounts you owe your employer, set against what is payable. | No — the amounts are between you and your employer. |
One line calculable out of six is not a limitation this site is embarrassed about — it is the difference between a figure with a statute behind it and a figure with an assumption behind it. Every “no” above is a place where a competitor’s “full settlement calculator” is quietly guessing at your contract.
When the money is due
Everything above — outstanding wages, other entitlements and the gratuity — is payable within 14 days of the end of the contract. It is one deadline covering the whole settlement, not a separate clock for the gratuity.
Source: u.ae, on end-of-service benefits in the private sector: employers must pay all outstanding wages, other entitlements and gratuity within 14 days of the termination of the contract.
Two practical consequences. If your settlement has not arrived and that window has passed, you are past a deadline rather than waiting on a courtesy. And if a figure is disputed, the undisputed part of the settlement is still subject to the same deadline — a disagreement about one line does not suspend the rest.
What an employer may take off it
An employer may deduct amounts you owe them from what is payable. That is the rule as the official guidance states it, and it is stated without a ceiling, without a process, and without a definition of what counts as an amount owed.
So treat a deduction as something to see evidence for rather than something to accept as arithmetic. Ask for the settlement in writing, itemised: what each deduction is, what it relates to, and what it is calculated from. A settlement that arrives as a single net number is one nobody can check — including you.
The limits on this right, and how to dispute a deduction, are not stated in the guidance this site works from. That is a gap in what we can tell you, not evidence that there are no limits.
If it does not arrive
The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) is the authority for private- sector labour complaints, and there is a free advisory line and an online complaint route. Free-zone authorities handle complaints within their own jurisdictions. Bring the dated contract, your last payslips, and your own working of the gratuity — which this calculator prints step by step, so a disagreement can be located at one line rather than argued as a total.
Before you compare your figure to theirs
Three things account for most gaps between an employee’s calculation and an employer’s, and none of them is the formula:
- Which salary figure was used — basic, or the whole package.
- Whether unpaid leave came off the service clock.
- What the last day was taken to be, when notice was paid in lieu rather than worked.