UAE maternity and paternity leave 2026: Your rights explained – leave, pay and nursing breaks

Dubai: About to welcome a new baby in your family? Employees in the UAE’s private sector are entitled to paid leave following the birth of their child. Mums and dads are both entitled to a parental leave, while new mums get an extended maternity leave as part of the UAE’s Labour Law – Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021. Here is all you need to know. Maternity leave Articles 30 and 31 of the UAE Labour Law provide the regulations that govern the duration and pay of maternity leaves and rules regarding employees who may be nursing their children. According to Article 30 of the UAE Labour Law, a working woman is entitled to a maternity leave of 60 days in total, with full pay for 45 days, and the following 15 days with half pay . The leave can begin from the last day of the month immediately before your expected month of delivery, provided you submit a medical certificate confirming your expected due date. In case you or your child is suffering from an illness, you are also eligible to take leave after the maternity leave period is over, provided that the total days of additional leave do not exceed 45 consecutive or intermittent days, as per Article 30 (2) of the UAE Labour Law. The additional leave, however, will be unpaid, and workers are required to provide a medical certificate issued by a medical authority. It is also important to note that these unpaid leave days are not counted towards your length of service when calculating your end-of-service gratuity . Maternity leave entitlement Article 30 (3) also states that in case a child does not survive, the worker is still entitled to the maternity leave, if she gives birth after six months or more of pregnancy. Special medical conditions For mums whose children may be born with a medical condition or disability, the UAE Labour Law provides an additional 30 days of maternity leave with full pay, starting from the end of the maternity leave period listed above. The worker also has the right to extend the leave for a period of 30 days without pay. After returning from maternity leave, the worker is also entitled to one or two rest periods a day to breastfeed her child for six months from the date of the child’s birth, provided that the period of both breaks does not exceed a total of one hour. Parental leave Article 32(1) of the UAE Labour Law also lists out another leave that is applicable to new parents – both mums and dads. The 'parental leave', which is also often referred to as paternity leave as it applies to fathers as well, offers private sector employees a paid leave for a period of five working days, after the birth of their child. These five days can be taken at any time, within six months of the birth of the child, whether at a stretch, or intermittently.