UAE overtime pay calculator
Enter your basic salary and the hours you worked beyond your normal day. The calculator applies the minimum rates in Article 19 of the UAE Labour Law and shows every step of the sum.
- Last checked against the source
- Sources
- 4 sources, listed below
- Please note
- Unofficial and independent. Not affiliated with any authority. Your official bill or contract always takes precedence.
Calculator
Enter your basic salary and overtime hours to see the working line by line: your hourly rate, then each kind of overtime with its premium and its article in the law.
How overtime is calculated in the UAE
Overtime in the UAE private sector is set by Article 19 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, the Labour Law, and by Article 15 of its Implementing Regulation, Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022. The rule has three parts:
- Find your hourly basic wage. The law does not give a formula for this. The usual method, and the one this calculator uses by default, is basic salary ÷ 30 ÷ 8.
- Pay each overtime hour at that rate plus a premium: at least 25% for an ordinary overtime hour, and at least 50% for an hour between 10pm and 4am.
- Pay a rest day or public holiday worked either with another day off or with that day’s wage plus at least 50% of the basic day.
Everything is calculated on basic salary, not on the total with allowances. On a basic of AED 6,000, one hour of basic pay is AED 25.00, an ordinary overtime hour is AED 31.25, and a night overtime hour is AED 37.50.
The calculator above does those steps for a month of your own figures and prints the working, article by article. The rest of this page explains each step, the limits, the cases the law leaves open, and how to check the result against your payslip.
The rates, article by article
These are the premiums in the law. Each one is a minimum (“not less than”), so an employer may pay more but not less.
| Work | Built on | Premium, at least | Where in the law |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overtime on a working day | Hourly basic | 25% | Art. 19(2) |
| Overtime between 22:00 and 04:00 (not shift workers) | Hourly basic | 50% | Art. 19(3) |
| Rest day worked, no day off given instead | Daily basic | 50% | Art. 19(4) |
| Public holiday worked, no day off given instead | Daily basic | 50% | Art. 28(2) |
Put as multipliers: a normal overtime hour is 125% of the hourly basic, a night overtime hour is 150%, and a rest day or holiday paid in cash is 150% of the daily basic.
The limits sit next to the rates. They control how much overtime an employer may ask for, and the calculator checks your figures against them.
| Rule | Limit | Where in the law |
|---|---|---|
| Normal hours a day | 8 hours | Art. 17(1) |
| Normal hours a week | 48 hours | Art. 17(1) |
| Overtime a day | 2 hours at most | Art. 19(1) |
| All working hours in any 3 weeks | 144 hours at most | Art. 19(1) |
| Rest days worked in a row | 2 at most | Art. 19 |
| Ramadan | 2 hours fewer a day | CR 1/2022 Art. 15(2) |
| Break | 60 minutes after 5 hours, unpaid time | Art. 18 |
Your hourly rate: the step the law leaves out
Neither the Decree-Law nor the Implementing Regulation says how to turn a monthly salary into an hourly one. Every calculator has to choose, and the choice changes the answer.
The default here: basic ÷ 30 ÷ 8. Article 67 of the Labour Law says that where the law counts in months, a month is 30 days. Article 17 sets the normal day at 8 hours. Put together, the daily basic is the monthly basic ÷ 30 and the hourly basic is that ÷ 8. On AED 6,000 that gives AED 200.00 a day and AED 25.00 an hour.
The other method you will see: basic × 12 ÷ 365 ÷ 8. Some payroll software divides the year’s basic by 365 days instead. On AED 6,000 that gives AED 197.26 a day and AED 24.6575 an hour, about 1.4% less. Ten hours of normal overtime come to AED 308.22 this way, against AED 312.50 on the 30-day method.
Neither is written into the law. We default to 30 days because it uses the law’s own month, and the calculator lets you switch so you can match what your employer’s payroll does. If your employer uses a third method, the receipt shows the daily and hourly figure it used, so you can compare line by line.
If your normal day is shorter than 8 hours, enter the hours your contract states. A 7.5-hour day on AED 6,000 gives AED 26.67 an hour, because the same daily wage is spread over fewer hours.
Basic or gross?
Basic. Article 19 says the overtime wage is calculated “according to the basic wage”, and Article 1 defines the basic wage as the wage in the contract without allowances or benefits in kind. Housing, transport, phone and similar allowances are left out.
This is where the biggest differences between estimates come from. Take a salary of AED 9,000 made up of AED 6,000 basic and AED 3,000 allowances. Ten hours of normal overtime are AED 312.50 on basic. On the full AED 9,000 they would be AED 468.75. The second figure is not wrong if your contract promises it, but it is not what the law requires.
Worked examples
Each example below is produced by the same code as the calculator, and each one is also a test in the code, so the figures here and the calculator cannot drift apart.
1. Ten hours of ordinary overtime
Basic AED 6,000. Ten overtime hours across the month, all between 4am and 10pm on working days.
Example 1: 10 hours on working days
| The base: basic wage only | |
|---|---|
| Daily basic wageAED 6,000.00 ÷ 30 days | AED 200.00 |
| Hourly basic wageAED 200.00 ÷ 8 h | AED 25.00 |
| Overtime | |
| Overtime on working days (+25%)10 h × AED 25.00 × 125% · Art. 19(2) | AED 312.50 |
| Overtime pay due | AED 312.50 |
At the legal maximum of 2 overtime hours a day (Art. 19(1)), 10 h needs at least 5 days. This is the legal minimum on basic wage. Your contract may give more. Not legal advice.
The working: AED 6,000 ÷ 30 = AED 200.00 a day; ÷ 8 = AED 25.00 an hour; × 125% = AED 31.25 an overtime hour; × 10 = AED 312.50. Ten hours also means at least five days of overtime, because no single day may carry more than two.
2. An evening that runs past 10pm
Basic AED 6,000. One evening of overtime from 20:00 to 23:00. The block crosses the start of the night window, so it is split at 22:00: 2 hours at +25% and 1 hour at +50%.
Example 2: one evening, 20:00 to 23:00
| The base: basic wage only | |
|---|---|
| Daily basic wageAED 6,000.00 ÷ 30 days | AED 200.00 |
| Hourly basic wageAED 200.00 ÷ 8 h | AED 25.00 |
| Overtime | |
| Overtime on working days (+25%)2 h × AED 25.00 × 125% · Art. 19(2) | AED 62.50 |
| Overtime between 22:00 and 04:00 (+50%)1 h × AED 25.00 × 150% · Art. 19(3) | AED 37.50 |
| Overtime pay due | AED 100.00 |
At the legal maximum of 2 overtime hours a day (Art. 19(1)), 3 h needs at least 2 days. This is the legal minimum on basic wage. Your contract may give more. Not legal advice.
Two hours at AED 31.25 make AED 62.50, one hour at AED 37.50 makes AED 37.50, total AED 100.00. Note that three overtime hours in one day is above the two-hour daily limit. It is only allowed when the work prevents a serious loss or accident or limits its effects. The calculator still prices every hour you enter.
Not sure how many of your hours fell after 10pm? Open “Work it out from the clock” in the calculator, enter the start and end of your overtime and how many days you did it, and it fills in both boxes.
3. A rest day worked and paid in cash
Basic AED 6,000, total salary AED 9,000. One rest day worked, with no replacement day off.
Example 3: one rest day worked, paid in cash
| The base: basic wage only | |
|---|---|
| Daily basic wageAED 6,000.00 ÷ 30 days | AED 200.00 |
| Hourly basic wageAED 200.00 ÷ 8 h | AED 25.00 |
| Overtime | |
| Rest days worked, paid in cash (+50%)1 day × AED 200.00 × 150% · Art. 19(4) | AED 300.00 |
| Another reading for rest days and holidays | |
| If "that day's wage" means the full wagefull daily wage AED 300.00 + 50% of the basic day | AED 400.00 |
| Total on that reading | AED 400.00 |
| Overtime pay due | AED 300.00 |
This is the legal minimum on basic wage. Your contract may give more. Not legal advice.
The law says the worker gets “the wage of that day” plus at least 50% of the basic wage for that day. On basic alone that is AED 200 + AED 100 = AED 300.00, and this is the figure the calculator counts. The text does not say whether “the wage of that day” means the basic day or the full day. If it means the full day (AED 9,000 ÷ 30 = AED 300), the payment is AED 300 + AED 100 = AED 400.00. The receipt shows both and counts the lower one, which is the safe minimum. Public holidays worked and paid in cash follow the same formula under Article 28(2).
4. A busy month with every kind of overtime
Basic AED 7,250. Fourteen ordinary overtime hours, three night hours, one rest day and two public holidays paid in cash.
Example 4: a busy month
| The base: basic wage only | |
|---|---|
| Daily basic wageAED 7,250.00 ÷ 30 days | AED 241.67 |
| Hourly basic wageAED 241.6667 ÷ 8 h (exact rate AED 30.2083) | AED 30.21 |
| Overtime | |
| Overtime on working days (+25%)14 h × AED 30.2083 × 125% · Art. 19(2) | AED 528.65 |
| Overtime between 22:00 and 04:00 (+50%)3 h × AED 30.2083 × 150% · Art. 19(3) | AED 135.94 |
| Rest days worked, paid in cash (+50%)1 day × AED 241.6667 × 150% · Art. 19(4) | AED 362.50 |
| Public holidays worked, paid in cash (+50%)2 days × AED 241.6667 × 150% · Art. 28(2) | AED 725.00 |
| Overtime pay due | AED 1,752.09 |
At the legal maximum of 2 overtime hours a day (Art. 19(1)), 17 h needs at least 9 days. This is the legal minimum on basic wage. Your contract may give more. Not legal advice.
The hourly basic here is not a round number: AED 7,250 ÷ 30 ÷ 8 = AED 30.2083. The receipt keeps four decimals in the working so you can redo it, and rounds each line to the fil. The total is the sum of the rounded lines: AED 528.65 + 135.94 + 362.50 + 725.00 = AED 1,752.09.
The daily and three-week limits
Two hours a day. Article 19(1) caps overtime at two hours a day. The exception, set out in Article 15(3) of the Implementing Regulation, is work needed to prevent a serious loss or a serious accident or to limit its effects. The calculator does not stop you entering more, because it prices the hours you actually worked, but its receipt tells you the fewest days your total could have been spread over.
144 hours in three weeks. The same article says total working hours may not exceed 144 in any three weeks. Read literally, “total” includes overtime. What that means depends on your normal week:
- On a five-day, 40-hour week, three weeks of normal work are 120 hours. That leaves 24 hours of overtime in any three-week stretch, or 8 a week on average.
- On a six-day, 48-hour week, three weeks of normal work already reach 144. On the literal reading there is no room for overtime at all.
The sources we checked do not say how MOHRE applies the 144-hour rule to a 48-hour week with overtime. If that is your situation, keep a record of your hours and ask MOHRE.
Rest days in a row. A worker may not be made to work more than two consecutive rest days. The calculator flags any month where you enter more than two, since it cannot tell whether they were consecutive.
Rest days and public holidays
A rest day worked (Article 19(4)) and a public holiday worked (Article 28(2)) are compensated the same way: either another day off or pay for the day plus at least 50% of the daily basic. Only enter days in the calculator that were paid in cash. If your employer gave you a replacement day off, that day is already settled and adding the cash as well would double count.
Every worker gets at least one paid rest day a week (Article 21). Which day it is depends on your contract. Public holidays are set each year by Cabinet resolution and are paid (Article 28(1)).
Ramadan hours
Article 15(2) of the Implementing Regulation cuts normal working hours in the private sector by two hours a day during Ramadan. It applies to all private-sector workers, not only to Muslims. On an 8-hour contract the normal day becomes 6 hours, so overtime starts after the sixth hour.
The law is silent on what happens to the hourly rate. There are two defensible ways to do it:
- Divide by 6. The daily wage stays the same and is spread over 6 hours, so the hourly basic rises. On AED 6,000: AED 200 ÷ 6 = AED 33.3333, and 4 overtime hours are 4 × 33.3333 × 1.25 = AED 166.67.
- Keep dividing by 8. The hourly basic stays AED 25.00, and 4 overtime hours are AED 125.00.
The dataset behind this page suggests entering the shorter day, and the calculator’s hint says the same, but this is a convention, not a rule from the law. Enter 6 or 8 in “Normal working hours a day” to see both.
What counts as working time
Overtime is only owed for time that counts as work, so these rules from the same law matter:
- Breaks do not count. After five consecutive hours you are entitled to a break of at least one hour in total, and the break is not working time (Article 18).
- The commute does not count, with three exceptions in Article 15(1) of the Implementing Regulation: delays caused by bad weather under a National Centre of Meteorology warning, delays in transport the employer provides because of an accident or breakdown, and cases where your contract says the commute counts.
Who the overtime rules do not cover
Some workers fall partly or fully outside these rules:
- Shift workers do not get the 50% night rate (Article 19(3)). Their overtime between 10pm and 4am is at the ordinary +25%. Choose “Yes” under “Do you work shifts?” in the calculator.
- Groups outside the working-hours limits. Article 15(4) of the Implementing Regulation lists board chairs and members, supervisory staff who hold the employer’s authority, ship crews and seafarers with special conditions, continuous shift work (whose average week must still not exceed 56 hours) and preparatory or supplementary work. The sources do not spell out how the Article 19 premiums apply to them, so check the contract and ask MOHRE.
- Workers outside this law entirely. Domestic workers have their own law (Decree-Law 9 of 2022). Government employees and the armed forces are also excluded (Article 3). The DIFC and ADGM free zones have their own employment laws.
The test in the regulation is the authority, not the job title. “Manager” on a visa or an offer letter is not the same as holding the employer’s powers.
Common mistakes in other guides
Guides to UAE overtime disagree with each other. These are the differences we found that change the answer:
- Calculating on gross salary. Many HR blogs and some calculators multiply the full salary, allowances included. Article 19 bases every premium on the basic wage. On a package of AED 6,000 basic and AED 9,000 total, that is the difference between AED 312.50 and AED 468.75 for ten hours.
- Presenting one hourly formula as the law. Payroll vendors use at least two methods, ÷ 30 and × 12 ÷ 365, and some present theirs as the official one. Neither appears in the law or the regulation. A guide that gives a single formula without saying so hides a 1.4% swing.
- Treating the rest-day rule as settled. “The wage of that day” can be read as the basic day or the full day. A figure for rest-day pay that does not tell you which reading it used may be right, but you cannot check it.
Checking your payslip
- Find your basic salary on your contract or payslip. Ignore allowances.
- Divide by 30, then by your contracted daily hours. Write this hourly figure down.
- Count your overtime hours by type: before 10pm, between 10pm and 4am, rest days paid in cash, public holidays paid in cash.
- Enter them in the calculator and compare each line with the payslip. If your employer used a different divisor, switch the setting and see whether the figures then match.
Unpaid overtime is part of the wages owed to you, including in your final settlement, which the employer must pay within 14 days of the contract ending (Article 53). Claims must be brought within two years of the end of employment (Article 54, as amended in 2024).
All figures and article numbers on this page were checked on 30 October 2026 against MOHRE’s consolidated English text of the Decree-Law and its Implementing Regulation. The full source list, dataset notes and change log are below.
Sources
Last checked against the source
Every figure on this page comes from these documents. Open them to check our working.
- Federal Decree-Law No. (33) of 2021 Regarding the Regulation of Employment Relationships and its amendments, bundled with Cabinet Resolution No. (1) of 2022 (Implementing Regulation), consolidated English PDF (InDesign file dated 16 Oct 2025) mohre.gov.ae
- Federal Decree by Law Concerning Regulating Labour Relations (legislation page: effective 02 Feb 2022, state Active, 3 amendments, last update listed 29 Jul 2024) uaelegislation.gov.ae
- Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 (unofficial English copy, used only to read Article 29 where the MOHRE PDF has an overprinted text layer) faolex.fao.org
- End of service benefits for workers in the private sector (page shows 'Updated on: 15 Oct 2026') u.ae
- The overtime premium is based on the BASIC wage (Article 19(2)). Many HR blogs and calculators use the gross salary, which overstates the legal minimum, although a contract may still pay more (Article 65(1)).
- Rest-day and holiday work earns 'the wage of that day' plus at least 50% of the basic wage. The law does not say whether 'the wage of that day' means basic or full wage; the calculator uses basic for both parts, the legal floor.
- The hourly rate formula is not written in the law or the regulation. Monthly basic ÷ 30 ÷ 8 is a convention built on Article 67 (30-day month) and Article 17 (8-hour day). The competing × 12 ÷ 365 ÷ 8 gives about 1.4% less.
- Ramadan: Cabinet Resolution 1/2022, Article 15(2), cuts normal working hours by 2 a day for all private-sector workers, not only Muslims.
Change log
| First published. Rates, limits and exclusions checked against Federal Decree-Law 33/2021 and Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 in MOHRE's consolidated English text. | |
| Art. 54 amended by Decree-Law 9/2024: 2-year limitation for claims after employment ends | |
| Decree-Law 33/2021 and Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 in force; overtime night premium window 22:00-04:00; leave encashment at end of service on basic wage |
Questions people ask
How is overtime calculated in the UAE?
Work out your hourly basic wage, then add the premium the law sets for the kind of overtime. Article 19 of Federal Decree-Law 33 of 2021 sets at least 25% extra for overtime on a working day and at least 50% extra for overtime between 10pm and 4am. The law does not say how to get the hourly figure; the usual method is basic salary ÷ 30 ÷ 8. On a basic of AED 6,000 that is AED 25 an hour, so 10 hours of daytime overtime is 10 × 25 × 1.25 = AED 312.50.
Is overtime calculated on basic or gross salary?
On basic. Article 19 says the overtime wage is calculated according to the basic wage, and Article 1 defines basic wage as excluding allowances. Your contract can be more generous and use the full salary, but the legal minimum is on basic.
What is the overtime rate for night work?
Overtime worked between 10pm and 4am is paid at the hourly basic wage plus at least 50% (Article 19(3)). Shift workers are excluded from this night rate; their overtime is at the normal +25%. A block of overtime that runs across 10pm is split: the hours before 10pm at +25%, the hours after at +50%.
What do I get for working on a rest day or public holiday?
Either another day off, or that day's wage plus at least 50% of the basic wage for the day (Article 19(4) for rest days, Article 28(2) for public holidays). On a basic of AED 6,000 the day's basic is AED 200, so a rest day paid in cash is at least AED 300.
What is the maximum overtime allowed per day?
Two hours, unless the work is needed to prevent a serious loss or accident or to limit its effects (Article 19(1) and Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 Article 15(3)). Total working hours, overtime included, may also not go above 144 in any three weeks.
Are working hours shorter in Ramadan, and does that affect overtime?
Yes. Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 Article 15(2) cuts normal private-sector hours by two a day in Ramadan, for all workers. On an 8-hour contract the normal day becomes 6 hours, so overtime starts after the sixth hour. The law does not say whether the hourly rate should then be worked out on 6 hours or 8; the calculator lets you choose.
Who is excluded from overtime pay?
Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 Article 15(4) takes some groups out of the working-hours limits: board chairs and members, supervisory staff with the employer's authority, ship crews with special conditions, continuous shift work, and preparatory or supplementary work. Shift workers do not get the 50% night rate. Domestic workers, government employees and the armed forces are outside this law altogether.