JAFZA Gratuity Calculator and DDA Gratuity Calculator

JAFZA's 2023 rules say gratuity follows the UAE Labour Law and is calculated on basic salary, after more than one year. DDA's own calculator page says its sample uses the minimum terms in Federal Labour Law No. 33 of 2021, and that the result is not binding. Neither page is a second day-count I can quote as different from 21 days then 30. I am an AI specialist in Dubai, not a lawyer. This is not a zone ruling.

DDA's gratuity calculator page says the Dubai Development Authority free zone is governed by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Employment Regulations 2004 and Federal Labour Law No. 33 of 2021, and that the calculator is guidance with no legal merit.

Sources we used: Dubai Development Authority: gratuity calculator

What does a JAFZA gratuity calculator have to follow?

The text I used is the Ninth Edition of the Jebel Ali Free Zone Rules, March 2023, as published on jafza.ae. Rule 11.8.11 says an employee whose service exceeds one year is entitled to a gratuity on termination in accordance with the UAE Labour Law and Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2021, or a higher payment if the employment agreement says so. Rule 11.8.12 says the gratuity is calculated at the basic salary under those same laws. Rule 11.8.13 says entitlement is forfeited if the employee resigns before completing one year of service.

Those three rules do not print 21 days or 30 days on the page. They point at other laws. The day counts I can quote from a statute are in Article 51 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021: 21 days of basic wage for each of the first five years, then 30 days a year, after one continuous year, with unpaid absence left out, and a cap at two years of wage. The government portal states the same bands. JAFZA's rules tell you to follow the labour law, and they allow a contract to pay more. They do not, in the clauses I read, authorise a lower private formula.

Federal Decree-Law No. 47 of 2021 is the unified general labour rules. MOHRE's briefing of 13 December 2021 says it covers federal-government employees under the human resources law and private-sector workers under the law regulating labour relations. JAFZA names it next to the labour law in the gratuity rules. An English PDF hosted by Khalifa University, which that file labels as not a government translation, sets a minimum of 21 and 30 days in its Article 11. I have not compared that English copy with the Arabic gazette, so I do not treat it as the text that controls a dispute. If JAFZA's citation and the contract disagree, ask JAFZA, not a blog.

Why is JAFZA's 2021 gratuity guide the wrong page for 2026?

JAFZA still hosts a guide titled how to calculate gratuity for employees of Jafza companies. The page is dated 29 September 2021. That is before Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 took effect on 2 February 2022. The guide talks about limited and unlimited contracts and points readers at the older end-of-service article. It also says Dubai Trade built a calculator that needs the contract type and whether the person resigned or was terminated. Those inputs belong to the repealed structure.

I am not using that 2021 page as the 2026 formula. JAFZA's own later note, dated 11 September 2022, says the new decree replaced Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, that the new law applies to onshore companies and all non-financial free zones, and that no reductions apply where an employee resigns. It also says end-of-service gratuity and other termination payments must be paid within 14 days. Some other sentences on that 2022 note describe notice tiers I would not copy into a contract without reading Article 43 yourself. The gratuity sentences are the ones that match Article 51 and the portal.

• Use the March 2023 Free Zone Rules for what JAFZA itself requires on gratuity.
• Use Article 51 and the government portal for the 21-day and 30-day bands.
• Treat the 29 September 2021 guide as a pre-2022 page, not as the current calculator.
• A resignation before one year is the forfeiture the 2023 rules still state.
• A resignation after one year is not, on the pages I read, a one-third or two-thirds cut.

What does the DDA gratuity calculator say?

Dubai Development Authority's page is an online form. The disclaimer under it is the part that answers the legal question. It says the DDA free zone is governed by the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone Employment Regulations 2004 and UAE Federal Labour Law No. 33 of 2021 and its amendments. It says DDA prepared the form as a sample for licensees and their employees. It says the details are based on the minimum terms in the UAE Labour Law. It says any outcome should not be construed as final and binding, that the form is merely guidance, and that it has no legal merit. It also says DDA does not promise the content is accurate, complete, and up to date.

I did not find, on that page, a DDA day-count that differs from Article 51. I have not read the 2004 employment regulations in full. If those regulations set a higher benefit, or a condition Article 51 does not, the DDA page tells you they govern the zone together with the 2021 law. Do not let a sample form bury a clause that is only in the 2004 regulations. Ask DDA or read those regulations before you treat the sample as the contract.

What does the government portal say about free zones?

The portal page on working in free zones, updated 12 August 2026, says people working in free zones are generally not governed by the UAE Labour Law. Each free zone authority has its own employment law, and employees are subject to that authority's rules. It also says the provisions in the employment contract must be in accordance with the Labour Law, and that free-zone employees are sponsored by the authority rather than by the employer. That is a different emphasis from JAFZA's 2022 note, which says the new law applies to non-financial free zones.

I am not going to pick a winner in that tension. Both pages are public. Article 3 of Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 applies the decree to private-sector establishments, employers, and workers, and its exclusion list names government employees, the armed forces, police, security, and domestic workers. It does not name JAFZA or DDA in that list. The portal's free-zone page still tells you to follow the authority's own rules. If you work in either zone, the practical step is to read the zone text and the contract, then use Article 51 as the federal minimum the zone pages themselves point at, not as a substitute for the zone text.

Should you type a JAFZA or DDA contract into this site's calculator?

Yes, as a full-time federal estimate, and no, as a zone ruling. CVPage AI's gratuity calculator runs Article 51: 21 days of basic wage for each of the first five years, 30 days a year after that, unpaid leave removed, cap at two years of wage. One day is monthly basic times 12 divided by 365. It has no resignation switch, because Article 51 does not reduce the sum for a resignation. JAFZA rule 11.8.13 still forfeits gratuity if you resign before one year, which is the same one-year threshold, not the old fraction.

Use the calculator when the contract does not promise a higher sum and you are not in a savings scheme. If the agreement says a higher payment, the JAFZA rule tells you that higher figure, and this form will understate it. If the employer enrolled you in the voluntary savings scheme, the portal says traditional gratuity stops for that employee and the earlier slice is settled under the law. The scheme page says it applies in the private sector and free zones. Set the last day to the day before enrolment if you only want that earlier slice.

On the way out, JAFZA rules 11.9.3 and 11.9.4 say the customer submits a signed statement of final dues and either lodges the sum with JAFZA or lodges a receipt that the employee has been paid. JAFZA reserves the right to calculate terminal benefits itself. That process is not something this website performs. A number on cvpage.org does not replace that statement.

Run the federal full-time estimate on the UAE gratuity calculator

The Article 51 bands, the two-year example, and who sits outside them are in UAE labour law gratuity

What should you ask the zone before you treat a figure as final?

• Which rules does this contract name: JAFZA, DDA, DIFC, ADGM, or MOHRE?
• Is the basic salary in the contract the figure they will use, with allowances excluded?
• Is there a clause that pays more than the federal minimum?
• Was the employee enrolled in a savings scheme, and on what date?
• For a JAFZA exit, has the signed final-dues statement been filed?
• For a DDA exit, has anyone read the 2004 regulations as well as Law No. 33 of 2021?

DIFC and ADGM are not JAFZA and not DDA. This page does not restate their employment laws. If the contract names either financial free zone, stop and use that authority's rules. The federal calculator will not know them.