Workers are eligible to avail of paid Haj leave

ABU DHABI — The employees or workers who want to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform Haj have the right to take leave from their annual leave balance without deductions from their salaries, according to the Ministry of Labour (MoL) officials.


Ahmed Al Besher, legal adviser at the Dispute Department of the MoL, said the UAE residents who work in the country have the right to take up to 30 days of leave for performing Haj from their annual leave.

According to the labour law, workers can take a Haj leave for not more than 30 days with deductions from their salaries if they have no leave balance.

Many workers have called the MoL enquiring whether they can take leave for performing Haj from their annual leave balance. Some workers have complained that their companies are deducting money from their salaries as well as deducting leave from the annual leave balance after they submitted applications for Haj leave.

“If we receive such complaints, the MoL will investigate the cases and impose penalties on the firms,” said Al Besher.

Mohsen Ali Saeed, Director of the Inspection Department of the MoL, said, “We will inspect the companies as usual. Our inspectors will guide the firms on the procedures to be followed when calculating the annual leave and deduction of Haj leave.”