UAE Overtime Rules 2026: Day, Night, Weekend & Holiday Rates Explained

A practical guide for HR, payroll, and finance teams.

Overtime is one of the most error-prone lines in UAE payroll. The rate changes depending on when the hours were worked — daytime, night, rest day, or public holiday — and the whole calculation runs on basic pay only, not the total package. Get the base wrong or apply a flat rate to every scenario, and you have created underpayments that can surface later as claims, arrears, and MOHRE scrutiny.

This guide sets out how overtime works in 2026 under the UAE labour law: the legal basis, the standard and night rates, how rest-day and public-holiday work is treated, the daily and weekly hour caps, who is excluded, and worked examples for day, night, and rest-day overtime that your team can follow directly.

Informational only — not legal advice. This article summarises general principles for the UAE private sector mainland. Rates and rules are set by MOHRE and the labour law and can change, and the DIFC and ADGM operate separate frameworks. Verify your specific position against current MOHRE guidance and take professional advice where needed.

The legal basis

Overtime in the private sector is governed by Article 19 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations, with the operational detail set out in its Executive Regulations (Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022). The same law fixes standard working hours at 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week for most private-sector employees. Any work required beyond those standard hours is overtime and must be paid at the statutory premium.

A few sectors — trade, hotels, cafeterias, and security among them — may run a 9-hour standard day within the rules, and during Ramadan standard hours are reduced by two hours per day, with overtime calculated on that reduced standard. Employees are also entitled to at least one hour of break for every five consecutive hours worked, and that break does not count as working time.

Overtime is calculated on basic pay

This is the single most common mistake, so it comes first. Overtime is calculated on the employee's basic wage only. Housing, transport, and any other allowances are excluded from the base. If an employee's package is AED 10,000 with AED 6,000 basic and AED 4,000 in allowances, every overtime figure is built from the AED 6,000 — not the AED 10,000.

The hourly rate is derived in three steps:

• Daily basic wage = basic monthly salary ÷ 30
• Basic hourly rate = daily basic wage ÷ 8
• Overtime pay = basic hourly rate × the applicable multiplier × number of overtime hours

Always divide by 30 for the daily rate regardless of how many days are in the calendar month, and keep the decimals through the calculation, rounding only the final figure.

The rates at a glance

When the hours are worked	Rate on basic hourly wage	Alternative
Overtime on a normal working day (daytime)	125% (normal + 25%)	—
Overtime between 10 PM and 4 AM	150% (normal + 50%)	—
Weekly rest day	150% for hours worked	Substitute rest day + normal pay
Official public holiday	150% for hours worked	Compensatory day off + normal pay

Each of these is a statutory minimum. A contract or company policy can offer more — never less — and the figures always sit on basic pay, not the gross package.

The standard rate: 125%

For overtime worked on a normal working day outside night hours, the rate is 125% of the basic hourly wage — the normal hourly rate plus a 25% premium. This is the baseline that applies to most extra hours a daytime employee works.

The night rate: 150%

For overtime worked between 10 PM and 4 AM, the rate rises to 150% of the basic hourly wage — the normal rate plus a 50% premium. The night premium applies to overtime hours falling in that window regardless of the day of the week.

There is an important exception: the 150% night premium does not automatically apply to employees whose regular, scheduled shift normally falls at night. If someone is hired to work nights as their standard pattern, those hours are their normal shift rather than overtime, and are typically handled through a shift arrangement rather than the night premium — unless the contract or company policy provides otherwise. The premium is for overtime that happens to land in the night window, not for a normal night shift.

Rest-day and public-holiday overtime

When an employee is required to work on their weekly rest day (whichever day the contract designates — it is no longer automatically Friday for every employer), the employer must either:

• grant a substitute rest day and pay the normal wage for the hours worked, or
• pay at least 150% of the basic wage for the hours worked on the rest day.

Work on an official public holiday follows the same logic under the labour law's public-holiday provisions: a compensatory day off plus normal pay, or at least 150% for the hours worked (that is, the normal wage plus a 50% premium). Some employers pay 200% for public-holiday work as a matter of market practice to stay competitive, but the statutory floor is the 150% equivalent, not 200%.

The hour caps

The law sets clear limits on how much overtime can be worked:

• Standard hours: 8 per day, 48 per week for most employees.
• Overtime cap: a maximum of 2 hours per day beyond the standard, except where the work is necessary to prevent substantial loss or a serious accident.
• Weekly ceiling: the 48-hour weekly standard remains the reference point around which overtime is measured.

There is no specific statutory monthly cap on overtime, but the daily 2-hour limit and the duty to protect employee health and safety both apply. Keeping accurate records of hours worked, overtime requested, and manager approvals is not optional — it is the evidence you rely on if a calculation is ever disputed.

Who is excluded

Overtime entitlements cover the majority of private-sector workers, but some categories are excluded:

• Senior management and genuine supervisory roles — executives and those whose position gives them real authority over the business. Whether a role qualifies depends on the actual duties, not the job title; labelling someone a "manager" does not by itself remove their overtime entitlement.
• Domestic workers — nannies, drivers, and household staff are covered by a separate law, not the general labour law.
• Certain sectors and roles — some activities that run on continuous shift systems have bespoke working-time arrangements set under the Executive Regulations.

Part-time employees are generally not entitled to overtime in the same way unless their contract specifically provides for it, since their hours are already defined below full time. The safest approach is to set overtime terms out clearly in every contract, so both sides know in advance which hours attract a premium and which do not.

The exclusion for managerial roles is the one most often misapplied. MOHRE looks at what a person actually does — whether they genuinely direct the business and exercise independent authority — rather than the title on the contract. A team lead who still works to a set schedule and has no real decision-making authority is unlikely to qualify as excluded, however senior the title sounds. If in doubt, treat the role as entitled to overtime and keep the records.

Worked examples

The figures below are illustrative, using a basic salary of AED 6,000 per month to show the mechanics. First, the base rates:

• Daily basic wage = AED 6,000 ÷ 30 = AED 200
• Basic hourly rate = AED 200 ÷ 8 = AED 25 per hour

Example 1 — Daytime overtime (125%). An employee works 2 extra hours on a Tuesday afternoon.

• Overtime rate = AED 25 × 1.25 = AED 31.25 per hour
• Pay = AED 31.25 × 2 = AED 62.50

Example 2 — Night overtime (150%). The same employee works 2 overtime hours between 11 PM and 1 AM.

• Overtime rate = AED 25 × 1.50 = AED 37.50 per hour
• Pay = AED 37.50 × 2 = AED 75.00

Example 3 — Rest-day overtime (150%). The employee is asked to work 6 hours on their weekly rest day, and the employer opts to pay rather than grant a day off in lieu.

• Rest-day rate = AED 25 × 1.50 = AED 37.50 per hour
• Pay = AED 37.50 × 6 = AED 225.00

Alternatively, the employer could grant a substitute rest day and pay the normal wage for the hours worked. Either route is lawful; the obligation is to apply one of them.

The mistakes that create liability

The recurring errors are predictable, and each one is avoidable:

• Calculating on gross instead of basic — the most frequent and most expensive mistake.
• Applying a flat 125% to everything — missing the 150% owed for night, rest-day, and public-holiday hours.
• Using the wrong divisor — some payroll runs use a 365-day annualised formula instead of the standard ÷ 30.
• No documentation — overtime paid or claimed without approved, signed records is hard to defend if it becomes a dispute, and claims can survive the end of employment.

Most of these come down to overtime being calculated by hand, disconnected from the attendance data that records when the hours were actually worked. When attendance feeds the overtime calculation directly, the right rate is applied to the right hours automatically, and the figure flows into the WPS payroll run without re-keying.

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This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. Overtime rates, hour limits, and exclusions are set under Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 and are subject to change; the DIFC and ADGM operate separate frameworks. Verify current requirements with MOHRE or a qualified adviser before acting.