Methodology

Where the rules come from

We always start with the official source: the law as published in the official gazette or on a legislation portal, then the pages of the labour ministry, the tax authority or the zakat body. When an official source cannot be reached, we rely on at least two independent secondary sources, such as major law firms, accounting-firm summaries and established newspapers. Below, each source carries its confidence level:

• Official: the law itself or a government page.
• Reputable secondary: a non-government source backed by another independent one.
• Secondary, to be confirmed: a single non-government source we have not yet been able to confirm; we are working on it.

We never write an article number or a rate that we have not read in a source we opened ourselves.

From the law to the calculator

Each country’s rules live in a single data file: the wage used, the rates, the limits, the reasons a contract can end, how service is counted, and the sources with the date we last checked them. The calculator reads that file, and so do the GCC comparison and this page, so what we explain can never differ from what we calculate.

We then test each calculator against worked examples from the law, the authorities and specialist sources, and where we could reach an official calculator we compared our results with it. The tests run again after every change.

How service is counted

Each country follows one of two methods, named for each country below:

• Calendar: we count whole years, months and days, treat a month as a twelfth of a year and each remaining day as a three-hundred-and-sixtieth.
• Days: we count every day of service and divide by the number of days in a year as the law defines it.

Either way the last working day counts, and unpaid leave comes off when the law or settled practice says so.

Rounding

We calculate with exact fractions and round once, at the end, to the smallest unit of the country’s currency: halala, fils or baisa. Halves round up. In the VAT calculator we round the VAT and then get the other figure by adding or subtracting, so the price before VAT plus the VAT always equals the price including VAT.

What the calculators leave out

• Other items in a final settlement: unpaid wages, leave balance, notice pay, tickets.
• Amounts your employer may deduct for debts or advances you owe.
• Anything your contract or company policy gives you above the legal minimum.
• Government employees and people under special regimes, such as free zones with their own laws.

Review and updates

We review a rules file whenever a new law or decision appears, and record the date we last checked its sources. That date appears on every calculator and below. If you see a rule that has changed or a figure that does not match an official source, please contact us.