Leaving a UAE job without notice and keeping your gratuity

Normally you must give your contract’s notice before leaving. But Article 45 of the UAE Labour Law lets you leave without notice and keep your end-of-service entitlements in four cases.

The four cases (Article 45)

1. The employer breaks its contractual or legal obligations to you. You must notify the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation 14 working days before the day you leave, and the employer must have failed to put it right after the Ministry told it.
2. You were assaulted or harassed at work by the employer. You must inform the competent authorities and the Ministry within five working days of when you were able to report it.
3. You were told to do work fundamentally different from what your contract says, without your written consent, except in cases of necessity under Article 12.
4. The employer knew of a grave danger to workers’ safety or health and did not remove it.

What you keep

Your end-of-service gratuity and other entitlements. Work them out with the final settlement calculator.

When a one-year work-permit ban applies

A worker is not given a new work permit for one year from leaving the UAE if they ended the job during probation while the employer had not breached its obligations, or if a “work abandonment” report against them was proven. The probation rules are in probation period.

Changing to a new employer

You may work for another employer when the contract term ended and was not renewed, when it ended under Articles 42 or 45, or when the employer ended it with no fault on your part. After a contract ends there is a grace period to find a new job and permit or to leave; ICP and the Ministry give its details.

The employer’s side is in dismissal without notice and arbitrary dismissal.

Checked against the UAE government portal (u.ae), content sourced to the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, on 26 September 2026. General information, not legal advice. See our editorial policy.