Can You Take Sick Leave During Your Notice Period in the UAE?

Yes, you can take sick leave during your notice period in the UAE, and your employer cannot dismiss you or issue a termination notice solely because you’re on properly documented medical leave. This applies whether you resigned or were given notice by your employer — the notice period itself doesn’t suspend your right to sick leave, provided you notify your employer promptly and support the absence with a valid medical certificate.

Where this genuinely gets complicated isn’t the legal principle — it’s the documentation. Notice periods are already tense by nature: handovers are happening, final settlements are being calculated, and both sides are watching the clock closely. Sick leave taken during this window is exactly the kind of thing that turns into a dispute when the paper trail is weak — a certificate the employer claims is invalid, notification sent only through WhatsApp with no formal record, or an absence quietly recharacterised as “unapproved” once settlement talks begin.

This guide walks through exactly what UAE labour law says about sick leave during a notice period, whether it extends your last working day, where these disputes typically originate, and the specific steps to protect your position — pay, certificate, and final settlement — if you find yourself sick while serving notice.

The Short Answer: Yes, With a Valid Medical Certificate

UAE labour law is unambiguous on the core principle: sick leave is a legal right, and it doesn’t switch off because you’re in your notice period. What determines whether it goes smoothly is entirely about documentation, not whether you’re “allowed” to be sick at this particular moment.

What the Law Actually Protects You From

The specific protection worth knowing is this: an employer may not dismiss an employee or give a termination notice while that employee is genuinely on sick leave. This is a direct statutory safeguard, meaning a notice period doesn’t create some kind of exception where this protection quietly stops applying.

The Legal Basis: Article 31 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021

Understanding the actual legal provision helps you know exactly what’s required of you, and what your employer is and isn’t entitled to demand.

Notification and Certificate Requirements

Under Article 31 of the UAE Labour Law, an employee must notify their employer of their sickness within a maximum of three days and submit a medical report on their condition issued by a recognised medical entity. Meeting both requirements — timely notification and a valid certificate — is what separates protected sick leave from an absence an employer can legitimately treat as unauthorised.

The 90-Day, Three-Tier Pay Structure

Every employee is entitled to sick leave of up to 90 days per year, whether taken continuously or intermittently, after completing probation. Pay is structured in three tiers: full salary for the first 15 days, half salary for the next 30 days, and no salary for the remaining 45 days. This structure applies during a notice period exactly as it would at any other point in your employment.

Does Sick Leave Extend Your Notice Period?

This is one of the most common points of confusion, and the answer surprises many employees.

Why Employers and Employees Often Assume the Opposite

Extended sick leave does not automatically extend your notice period — your employment still ends on the originally scheduled date unless both parties mutually agree in writing to change it. This means that if you fall sick during notice and remain unwell right up to your last working day, your employment relationship still concludes as scheduled; the sick leave simply governs your pay and absence status during that window, not the calendar itself.

Where These Disputes Actually Go Wrong

Sick leave during notice rarely becomes a real dispute over the underlying legal right — it becomes a dispute over evidence and process.

No Certificate, or a Certificate the Employer Disputes

The most common flashpoint is documentation quality: sick leave taken without a certificate at all, or with a certificate the employer later claims is invalid or improperly issued. Without a valid certificate, the employer isn’t obligated to approve paid sick leave, and the absence may be recorded as unauthorised — a materially different, and much weaker, position for you.

Informal Notification (WhatsApp Only, No Written Record)

Notifying a manager only through a casual WhatsApp message, with no formal email or HR confirmation, creates exactly the kind of ambiguity that surfaces later if a settlement dispute arises. Mixed or informal communication is a recurring pattern in these disputes precisely because it leaves no clean record of when and how notification actually happened.

“Unapproved Absence” Framed as Misconduct

In more contentious exits, employers sometimes build a narrative that treats a sick-leave absence during notice as evidence of “avoiding notice duties” or abandoning the handover — particularly where the certificate, timing, or communication trail isn’t airtight. This is where a clean paper trail from the outset makes the difference between a routine sick leave and a settlement fight.

Can Your Employer Terminate You While You’re on Sick Leave?

No — not for the sick leave itself. An employer cannot dismiss you or issue a termination notice while you are validly on sick leave. What they can do, if you exhaust your full 90-day annual entitlement and remain unable to return to work afterward, is lawfully terminate the contract at that point, with the employee still entitled to full end-of-service benefits in that scenario. The distinction matters: being sick, on its own, is never a valid reason for termination as long as you remain within your legal entitlement.

How to Protect Yourself If You’re Sick During Notice

If illness strikes while you’re serving notice, a few deliberate steps make the difference between a smooth process and a contested one.

Step 1 — Notify in Writing, Not Just Verbally

Notify your employer in writing — email, not just a WhatsApp message to a manager — within the required timeframe, and keep a copy or delivery confirmation.

Step 2 — Get a Certificate From a Recognised Medical Authority

Obtain your medical certificate from a properly licensed healthcare facility. In Dubai specifically, certificates for absences of three or more consecutive days must come from a DHA-licensed facility, and extended sick leave periods may require review by a Higher Medical Committee under current MoHAP and DHA regulations.

Step 3 — Verify the Certificate if the Employer Disputes It

If your employer challenges the certificate’s authenticity, use the relevant issuing authority’s verification method — such as the DHA Sick Leave Verification Portal in Dubai — and keep written proof of that verification result.

Step 4 — Keep Every Document Until Final Settlement Is Confirmed

Retain your employment contract, notice correspondence, medical certificate, and payslips until your final settlement is fully processed and confirmed. If the sick leave is later contested during settlement calculations, this documentation is what resolves the dispute quickly rather than leaving it as a matter of competing accounts.

DIFC and ADGM: A Different Set of Rules

If you work within the Dubai International Financial Centre or Abu Dhabi Global Market, your sick leave entitlement is governed by separate employment regulations rather than the federal UAE Labour Law. A key practical difference: DIFC and ADGM count sick leave in working days, excluding weekends and public holidays, which effectively gives employees more calendar time to recover than the raw day count suggests. As under federal law, sick leave taken during a notice period in these jurisdictions does not automatically extend the notice period itself.

How Wirestork Can Help

Sick leave disputes during a notice period rarely stay simple once settlement calculations are involved — and by the time it becomes contested, having clean documentation from day one makes all the difference. Wirestork can connect you with a labour and employment lawyer to review your situation, verify your certificate’s standing, and protect your final settlement if a dispute is brewing. Talk to a Lawyer if your employer is disputing your sick leave.

Quick Takeaways

• Yes — you can take sick leave during your notice period, and your employer cannot dismiss you solely for being on validly documented medical leave.
• You must notify your employer within three days and provide a medical certificate from a recognised medical entity.
• Sick leave follows the standard 90-day, three-tier pay structure (15 days full pay, 30 half pay, 45 unpaid) even during notice.
• Sick leave does not automatically extend your notice period — your last working day stays fixed unless both parties agree otherwise in writing.
• Most disputes come down to documentation: missing certificates, informal WhatsApp-only notification, or absences reframed as misconduct.
• If your certificate is disputed, use the official verification portal (e.g., DHA in Dubai) and keep proof of the result.
• DIFC and ADGM count sick leave in working days rather than calendar days, differing from the federal Labour Law.

Conclusion

If illness strikes while you’re serving out your notice period in the UAE, the law is on your side — sick leave is a protected right that doesn’t switch off simply because you’ve resigned or been given notice, and your employer cannot use a genuine, documented illness as grounds for dismissal. What decides whether the process goes smoothly is almost entirely about paperwork: notify in writing, get your certificate from a properly recognised medical facility, and keep everything until your final settlement is confirmed.

Where things go wrong isn’t usually a disagreement about the underlying legal principle — it’s a missing certificate, a WhatsApp-only notification with no formal trail, or an absence that gets quietly reframed as “unapproved” once settlement negotiations get tense. None of this is complicated to avoid; it just requires treating a notice-period illness with the same documentation discipline you’d want if the exit were already contested.

If your employer is disputing your sick leave, questioning your certificate, or your final settlement is being held up over this exact issue, Wirestork can connect you with a lawyer who handles these disputes regularly. Talk to a Lawyer to protect your position before it escalates.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can you take sick leave during your notice period in the UAE? Yes. UAE labour law does not suspend your right to sick leave during a notice period. Your employer cannot dismiss you or issue a termination notice solely because you are on validly documented sick leave, provided you notify them within three days and submit a certificate from a recognised medical entity.

2. Does sick leave extend your notice period in the UAE? No. Extended sick leave does not automatically extend your notice period. Your employment still ends on the originally scheduled date unless both parties mutually agree in writing to change it.

3. Can my employer reject my sick leave certificate during my notice period? An employer can dispute a certificate’s validity, but if this happens, you can use the relevant issuing authority’s official verification method, such as the DHA Sick Leave Verification Portal in Dubai, and keep written proof of the verification result to resolve the dispute.

4. What happens if I don’t have a medical certificate for sick leave during my notice period? Without a valid medical certificate, your employer is not obligated to approve paid sick leave, and the absence may be recorded as unauthorised, which can weaken your position in any later dispute over final settlement.

5. Can I be fired while on sick leave during my UAE notice period? No, not for the sick leave itself. An employer cannot dismiss you or give a termination notice while you are validly on sick leave. Termination can only occur if you exhaust your full 90-day annual sick leave entitlement and remain unable to return to work afterward.

References

1. The Official Portal of the UAE Government — Sick Leave
2. UAE Legislation — Federal Decree-Law No. (33) of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations
3. Dubai Health Authority — Sick Leave Certificate Verification