UAE Public Holiday Pay Explained: 2026 Rules, Rates & Calendar

Public holiday pay is one of the most quietly mishandled areas of UAE payroll. The dates shift each year, the Islamic holidays are confirmed only days in advance, and the moment an employee is asked to work a holiday, a separate set of pay rules takes over. With the Islamic New Year having marked the start of 1448 AH, and several long weekends still ahead in 2026, this is a good point in the year to get the fundamentals straight.

This guide walks through the statutory paid holidays for 2026, how private and public sector entitlements differ, what an employee is owed when required to work a holiday, how holidays that land on a rest day are treated, and how part-time and shift workers fit in — all anchored to Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 and the Cabinet resolutions that sit beneath it.

Informational only — not legal advice. This article summarises general principles for the UAE private sector mainland. Specific situations should be checked against the current law and, where needed, with a qualified adviser.

The legal basis for public holiday pay

Two instruments do the work here. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations governs employment in the private sector, and its Article 28 sets out public holiday entitlements. Separately, a Cabinet Resolution on public holidays fixes which days are observed each year for both the public and private sectors. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) then announces the confirmed dates, since the Islamic holidays depend on the Hijri (lunar) calendar.

The baseline is simple: employees are entitled to official public holidays with full pay. The complexity only appears when business needs require someone to work on one of those days.

The full 2026 UAE public holiday calendar

The table below reflects the holidays observed across all emirates for both the public and private sectors in 2026. Dates tied to the Islamic calendar are subject to confirmation by official moon sighting and may shift by a day, so payroll teams should treat them as planning dates until MOHRE confirms.

Holiday	2026 date(s)	Days	Calendar basis
New Year's Day	Thursday 1 January	1	Gregorian (fixed)
Eid Al Fitr	Friday 20 – Sunday 22 March (Shawwal 1–3); a 30th-of-Ramadan day may be added	3–4	Islamic (moon sighting)
Arafat Day	Tuesday 26 May (Dhu Al Hijjah 9)	1	Islamic (moon sighting)
Eid Al Adha	Wednesday 27 – Friday 29 May (Dhu Al Hijjah 10–12)	3	Islamic (moon sighting)
Islamic New Year (Hijri)	Monday 15 June (1 Muharram 1448 AH)	1	Islamic (confirmed)
Prophet Muhammad's Birthday	Tuesday 25 August (12 Rabi Al Awwal)	1	Islamic (moon sighting)
UAE National Day (Eid Al Etihad)	Wednesday 2 – Thursday 3 December	2	Gregorian (fixed)

That comes to around 12 paid days off in 2026, rising to 13–14 if Ramadan completes 30 days. The Cabinet may also declare additional days at its discretion, so the calendar above is the floor rather than a fixed ceiling.

Private sector vs public sector entitlements

The headline dates are now aligned: the Cabinet sets one public holiday calendar for both the public and private sectors, so the days off are the same. Where the two diverge is the governing law and the surrounding HR rules.

Private sector employees on the mainland are covered by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Federal government employees fall under a separate framework, Federal Decree-Law No. 49 of 2022 on Human Resources in the Federal Government. In practice the holiday dates match, but the detailed entitlements, leave administration and pay mechanics referenced in this guide are those of the private sector law.

A few groups sit outside FDL No. 33 of 2021 entirely: federal and local government staff, members of the armed forces and police, and domestic workers (who are covered by their own legislation). Free zones are covered separately below.

The baseline: paid time off on a public holiday

For a normal public holiday on a normal working day, there is nothing unusual to process. The employee does not work, and the day is paid as part of the regular monthly salary. No deduction, no special calculation — the holiday is simply paid leave.

The rules that follow only apply when the employee is required to work on a public holiday.

What employees are owed for working a public holiday

This is the part payroll teams most often get wrong. Under Article 28 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, when work conditions require an employee to work on a public holiday, the employer must compensate them in one of two ways:

1. A compensatory day off — a substitute rest day for each public holiday worked, granted in addition to the employee's normal annual leave; or
2. Enhanced pay — the wage for that day at the normal rate, plus an increase of not less than 50% of the basic wage for that day.

A few points matter for getting this right:

• The choice of method generally rests with the employer, but whichever route is taken must meet the legal minimum. A contract or company policy may offer something more generous, but never less.
• The premium is calculated on the basic wage, not the total or gross wage.
• The "not less than 50%" wording is a floor. Some employers apply a higher rate as policy.
• The entitlement applies to all employees required to work the holiday, regardless of category or seniority — there is no general carve-out for managers.
• The law does not set a statutory expiry for a compensatory day off, so its timing is usually governed by the employer's internal HR policy. Businesses with 50 or more employees are required to maintain formal internal regulations, which is the right place to define this.

A worked example of holiday-work pay

The figures below are illustrative, to show the mechanics rather than to state any fixed amount.

Scenario: An employee with a basic salary of AED 6,000 per month is required to work on a public holiday.

• Daily basic wage = AED 6,000 ÷ 30 = AED 200 per day.

Option 1 — Compensatory day off The employee is paid their normal monthly salary and receives one extra paid rest day, taken later, on top of annual leave. No additional cash is added to that month's payroll.

Option 2 — Enhanced pay The day worked is already covered by the monthly salary, so the additional amount due is the 50% premium on the basic wage:

• 50% × AED 200 = AED 100 extra for that day.

So the employee receives at least AED 100 above their normal monthly salary for working that single holiday. Framed differently, the day worked is valued at 150% of the normal daily basic wage. Either option is lawful; the obligation is to apply one of them, not to skip both.

When a public holiday falls on a weekly rest day

This is where the brief many teams operate from is often out of date. The common assumption is that a holiday landing on the weekend is automatically "carried forward" to the next working day. That is not the default rule.

The Cabinet Resolution on public holidays states that, with the exception of the two Eid holidays, the Cabinet may issue a resolution to move a public holiday to the beginning or end of the week. This is a discretionary power exercised by the Cabinet in advance — for example, shifting a midweek single-day holiday such as the Prophet's Birthday to create a long weekend. It is not an automatic right that an individual employer applies on its own.

Critically, the same resolution makes clear that a public holiday cannot be transferred when it coincides with another public holiday or falls on the weekend. So if a single-day holiday lands on a Saturday or Sunday, there is generally no statutory replacement day unless the Cabinet has already announced a shift for that specific holiday. Employers can choose to be more generous as a matter of policy, but they are not obliged to grant a substitute day in that situation.

The practical takeaway: follow the MOHRE announcement for each holiday rather than assuming a carry-forward, and document your company's own policy for any goodwill days you choose to grant.

Part-time and shift workers

Part-time employees registered through MOHRE are entitled to public holiday treatment on a pro-rata basis, calculated against their contracted hours relative to a full-time schedule. The same Article 28 logic applies — paid time off, or compensation if required to work — but the value is proportionate to the hours worked. The fairest approach is to set the pro-rata method out clearly in the employment contract so there is no ambiguity at payroll time.

Shift workers whose normal rotation happens to fall on a public holiday are still covered by Article 28. If the shift requires them to work the holiday, they are owed either the compensatory day off or the enhanced pay. Where holiday work also extends into overtime hours, separate overtime provisions of the law may apply on top, so these cases are worth reviewing individually rather than processing on autopilot.

Free zones: DIFC and ADGM

The financial free zones run their own employment regimes. The DIFC and ADGM each have separate employment laws, and their public holiday and pay rules are governed by those frameworks rather than by Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Companies with entities inside these zones should check the relevant free zone law directly, as the mechanics described in this guide do not automatically apply there.

A practical payroll checklist for 2026

To keep holiday pay clean and defensible:

• Wait for MOHRE confirmation on each Islamic holiday before locking the payroll date.
• Flag who actually worked each public holiday, by team and shift, before the run.
• Decide and record which Article 28 option applies — compensatory day or enhanced pay — and apply it consistently.
• Calculate the premium on basic wage, not gross.
• Track compensatory days so they are not lost or forgotten, and define their validity in your internal policy.
• Pro-rate part-time entitlements against contracted hours.
• Check free zone entities separately if any staff sit under DIFC or ADGM rules.

Most of these failure points come down to the handoff between attendance, contracts and payroll living in different places. When holiday calendars, who-worked-what, and the correct Article 28 treatment all sit in connected workflows, the calculation stops being a month-end scramble.

Bring holiday pay into one connected workflow

Public holiday pay only gets messy when attendance, contracts and payroll live in separate places. RadixHR brings attendance, leave approvals and holiday pay into one connected workflow, so public holidays are calculated correctly without manual cross-checking — the right Article 28 treatment applied consistently, compensatory days tracked, and the premium calculated on basic wage every time.

Book a demo → to see leave and holiday pay run before the next long weekend.

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Related Resources

• UAE Public Holidays 2026: Complete Calendar for HR Planning
• Overtime Calculation UAE 2026: Formula, Rules & Calculator
• Managing Annual Leave in the UAE Summer: Coverage, Approvals & Carryover
• UAE Labor Law 2026: Complete Guide
• Working Hours UAE 2026: Complete Guide

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This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Public holiday dates tied to the Islamic calendar are subject to official moon sighting and MOHRE confirmation. Rules differ in the DIFC and ADGM and for groups outside Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Verify current requirements before acting.