Ramadan cuts two hours off the legal working day for every private sector employee in the UAE, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, with no reduction in pay. The rule is not in the Labour Law itself. It sits in Article 15(2) of the Executive Regulation, which states that “the normal working hours shall be reduced by two hours during the holy month of Ramadan.” A standard eight hour day becomes six, and anything past the sixth hour is overtime.

This guide covers what the reduction legally is, who it does not cover, what it does to your overtime threshold, what the federal government sector does instead, and what the UAE Penal Code says today about eating in public during fasting hours. That last question has a different answer from the one most guides give, and the change happened in January 2022.

The Two-Hour Reduction Is in the Executive Regulation, Not the Labour Law

Article 17(4) of Federal Decree-Law 33/2021 does not set Ramadan hours. It delegates them: “The Executive Regulation of this Decree by law shall determine the working hours in the month of Ramadan.” The number appears in Article 15(2) of Cabinet Resolution 1/2022, which reduces normal working hours by two.

This matters when you are arguing with an employer who says the reduction is discretionary or a company benefit. It is neither. The Executive Regulation of the Labour Law states the reduction as a flat rule with no qualifying condition attached to it, in the same article that sets the two-hour daily overtime cap and the 144-hour limit per three weeks.

The baseline it reduces is set by Article 17(1) of Federal Decree-Law 33/2021: eight hours a day or 48 hours a week. Six hours a day is therefore the Ramadan norm for a standard full-time contract, and roughly 36 hours across a six-day week.

Rule Source What it says
Normal working hours FDL 33/2021, Article 17(1) 8 hours a day or 48 hours a week
Ramadan hours delegated FDL 33/2021, Article 17(4) The Executive Regulation determines Ramadan working hours
The reduction Cabinet Resolution 1/2022, Article 15(2) Normal working hours reduced by two hours
Overtime definition FDL 33/2021, Article 19(2) Work beyond normal working hours is overtime, at basic wage plus at least 25 percent
Daily overtime cap FDL 33/2021, Article 19(1) No more than two hours a day, and 144 hours in any three weeks
Rest break FDL 33/2021, Article 18 No more than five consecutive hours without breaks totaling at least one hour

It Applies to Non-Muslims, and Your Salary Does Not Change

The Official Platform of the UAE Government states plainly that under UAE labor law working hours are reduced by two hours per day, and that “this decision applies to Muslim and non-Muslim employees, without deducting regular wages.”

Neither Article 15(2) nor Article 17 makes the reduction conditional on the employee fasting or on the employee’s religion. The UAE Government’s Ramadan page removes any remaining doubt by saying so directly.

The most common workplace dispute in Ramadan is not about the two hours. It is about an employer who grants the reduction only to fasting staff, or who grants it and then extends hours at the other end of the day to recover the time. Both are compliance failures, and the second one is easier to prove because it shows in the attendance record.

What actually happens in most offices

Employers apply the reduction in one of three ways: a later start, an earlier finish, or a split that shortens the lunch window and pulls the end of day forward. All three are lawful because the law fixes the length of the day, not its position. What is not lawful is a six-hour published schedule with an unwritten expectation of eight hours of attendance.

The Reduction Moves Your Overtime Threshold Down With It

Article 19(2) defines overtime by reference to normal working hours, not to a fixed eight-hour number. Because Article 15(2) reduces normal hours to six during Ramadan, the seventh hour worked in Ramadan is overtime, payable at basic wage plus at least 25 percent.

This is the reading that follows from the two provisions read together, and it is the single most valuable thing to understand about Ramadan pay. MOHRE has not published a standalone circular restating it in those words, so treat it as the plain consequence of the statutory text rather than as a separately announced rule, and expect some payroll departments to argue the point.

Hour of work Outside Ramadan During Ramadan
Hours 1 to 6 Normal hours Normal hours (the full contractual day)
Hours 7 and 8 Normal hours Overtime: basic wage plus at least 25 percent
Hours 9 and 10 Overtime: basic wage plus at least 25 percent Beyond the two-hour daily overtime cap in Article 19(1)
Any hour between 10 pm and 4 am Basic wage plus at least 50 percent, shift workers excluded Same, and relevant because Ramadan trading runs late

The 25 percent and 50 percent uplifts are calculated on the basic wage, not the total package. If your allowances make up half your salary, the uplift is worth far less than it sounds, which is why the split between basic and allowances in your UAE employment offer matters so much. The mechanics of the calculation are set out in our guide to overtime calculation under UAE labour law.

Who the Two-Hour Rule Does Not Cover

Article 3(2) of Federal Decree-Law 33/2021 excludes three categories from the Labour Law entirely: employees of federal and local government agencies, members of the armed forces, police and security, and domestic workers. The Ramadan reduction reaches them only through their own separate rules, not through Article 15(2).

Government employees are covered by public sector circulars instead, which are described in the next section. Domestic workers are regulated under a separate federal law and a separate MOHRE contract, so a household employer should check that instrument rather than assume the two-hour reduction transfers across.

Article 15(4) of the Executive Regulation also exempts several categories from the maximum working hours rules generally, including chairmen and board members, people in supervisory positions with employer capacity, ships’ crews, and activities requiring successive shifts where the average does not exceed 56 hours a week. If you sit in one of those categories, the two-hour question is more complicated than a simple yes.

The two financial free zones sit outside the federal Labour Law under their own employment legislation. If you work in the DIFC or in ADGM under its own employment law and visa regime, confirm the Ramadan position in that zone’s employment regulations rather than assuming Article 15(2) applies to your contract.

Federal Government Hours Are Set Separately Each Year

For Ramadan 2026, corresponding to 1447 AH, the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources set official hours for federal entities at 9:00 am to 2:30 pm Monday to Thursday, and 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on Friday, except where the nature of the job requires otherwise.

The FAHR circular also allowed federal entities to keep their approved flexible working arrangements within the prescribed daily hours, and to let up to 70 percent of employees work remotely on Fridays during Ramadan.

These hours are re-issued every year and each emirate’s government publishes its own equivalent for local government employees, so do not carry a previous year’s timetable forward. The practical consequence for residents is that government counters close in the early afternoon for the whole month, which compresses every in-person errand into a narrower window than usual.

Eating in Public: What the Law Says Now

The current UAE Penal Code, Federal Decree-Law 31/2021, contains no offense of eating, drinking or smoking in public during Ramadan daylight hours. Article Two of that decree-law expressly repealed Federal Law 3/1987, the old Penal Code that did contain such a provision, and the new code entered into force on 2 January 2022.

We checked this against the full text of the decree-law rather than relying on secondary summaries. Section Five of the special part, “Crimes Against Religions Creeds And Rites,” runs from Article 362 to Article 366 and covers offending Islamic sacred beliefs or rites, insulting recognized divine religions, alcohol offenses, desecration of graves, and magic. Nothing in that section, or elsewhere in the code, penalizes daytime eating during Ramadan.

The Government’s own guidance has moved in step. The official Ramadan page, last updated on 20 January 2026, no longer frames this as a prohibition. It says non-Muslims are not required to fast, that restaurants and food courts in malls provide designated areas away from those who are fasting, and that “amusement parks, restaurants, cultural and tourist sites remain open throughout the day.”

Two honest caveats before you act on that

First, Article 362(3) of the Penal Code penalizes “approving, instigating or promoting sin or doing any act that would tempt people to commit sin,” with a heavier penalty where the act is committed in public. That is broad language, and we have found no published case applying it to an individual eating a sandwich, but it is the provision that remains on the books.

Second, the repeal of a criminal offense is not a permission slip. Emirate-level authorities, landlords, malls, schools and employers all set their own rules, and an office that asks staff to use a designated pantry rather than eat at their desks is enforcing a workplace policy, not a criminal statute. The practical advice has not changed even though the legal basis for it has: be discreet in the open air, and use the screened areas that venues provide.

What Actually Changes Day to Day

Beyond working hours, the visible changes are to trading hours, paid parking, taxi availability and the price of staple goods. Supermarkets and grocery shops stay open as usual, malls stay open until late night, and cities become noticeably busier after sunset than during the afternoon.

  • Paid parking. Hours of paid parking change during Ramadan in every emirate, and the revised timings are posted on the parking meters themselves. Government transport entities publish the change locally rather than nationally, so check the meter rather than a national schedule.
  • Taxis. Availability drops sharply in the hour before iftar because drivers stop to break their fast. Book in advance if you have to be somewhere at sunset, and expect the same squeeze on ride-hailing surge pricing. If you are still deciding on a car, our analysis of whether you need a car in Dubai covers the alternatives.
  • Road behavior. The half hour before iftar is the most dangerous driving window of the year in practical terms, because a large share of drivers are trying to get home before sunset. Traffic authorities campaign on this every year.
  • Prices and consumer protection. The Ministry of Economy and Tourism caps the price of essential commodities during the month and inspects retailers for compliance. Consumer complaints go to 800 1222.
  • Charity. Iftar tents run by the Emirates Red Crescent and other licensed organizations offer free meals to anyone. Fundraising by individuals is not permitted under the Donations Regulations; it must go through a licensed charity.

Alcohol service

Licensed venues generally restrict or reschedule alcohol service during Ramadan, and the rules are set at emirate level rather than federally. Article 363 of the Penal Code leaves alcohol regulation to each emirate in terms, stating that “each Emirate shall have regulations for the use, circulation and possession of or trading in alcoholic drinks.” Our guide to the Dubai alcohol licence covers the standing rules that apply year round.

How to Check and Enforce Your Ramadan Working Hours

Most disputes are settled in the first week of the month, before habits set. This is the sequence that works.

Step 1: Find your contractual normal day

Open your MOHRE labour contract and identify the stated daily or weekly hours. This is the number that gets reduced by two, so a contracted seven-hour day becomes five, not six. Our guide to UAE labour contract types explains where to find the registered version.

Step 2: Ask HR for the written Ramadan schedule

Ask for it in writing and before the month starts. A written schedule is what converts a later dispute from a disagreement about memory into a comparison between two documents.

Step 3: Compare the schedule against your attendance record

Log actual start and finish times for the first week. Where the pattern shows regular work past the reduced day, you now have an overtime claim rather than a grievance about culture.

Step 4: Raise it internally, in writing, once

Send a short factual message citing Article 15(2) of Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 and Article 19(2) of Federal Decree-Law 33/2021, and ask for either the schedule to be corrected or the excess hours to be paid as overtime. Most employers correct at this stage because the text is not ambiguous.

Step 5: Escalate to MOHRE if it is not resolved

An unresolved wage or hours dispute goes to MOHRE, which attempts amicable settlement before any referral to court. The route and timelines are set out in our step-by-step MOHRE labour complaint process, and the unpaid-wage angle specifically in the guide to filing a MOHRE complaint for unpaid salary.

Ramadan and Your Leave Entitlement

Ramadan itself is not a public holiday. Eid Al Fitr is, and it runs from 1 to 3 Shawwal, with day 30 of Ramadan also treated as an official Eid Al Fitr holiday if Ramadan runs the full 30 days.

That last rule catches people out, because it means the length of the Eid break is not known until the moon sighting. If you are booking flights, the safe assumption is that the break may start a day earlier than the calendar suggests. The full holiday list and how holidays interact with annual leave are covered in our guide to UAE public holidays and your leave entitlement, and the arithmetic of the leave balance itself in annual leave entitlement calculation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do non-Muslims get reduced working hours during Ramadan in the UAE?

Yes. The Official Platform of the UAE Government states that the two-hour reduction “applies to Muslim and non-Muslim employees, without deducting regular wages.” Article 15(2) of Cabinet Resolution 1/2022 sets the reduction without any condition based on religion or on whether the employee is fasting.

Is it illegal to eat in public during Ramadan in the UAE?

The current Penal Code, Federal Decree-Law 31/2021, contains no offense of eating, drinking or smoking in public during Ramadan daylight hours. It expressly repealed Federal Law 3/1987, which did contain such a provision, and entered into force on 2 January 2022. Official guidance now frames the issue as etiquette and points non-Muslims to the screened dining areas that malls and restaurants provide.

How many hours should I work during Ramadan in the UAE?

Two fewer than your contracted normal day. For a standard eight-hour contract that is six hours a day, or roughly 36 hours across a six-day week. If your contract already specifies fewer than eight hours, the two-hour reduction applies to that lower number.

Is the seventh hour of work during Ramadan paid as overtime?

Article 19(2) defines overtime as work beyond normal working hours, and Article 15(2) reduces normal hours by two during Ramadan, so work past the reduced day is overtime at basic wage plus at least 25 percent. MOHRE has not issued a standalone circular restating this, so expect some payroll departments to dispute it and be ready to cite both provisions.

Can my employer make me work eight hours during Ramadan?

Only by paying the extra hours as overtime and staying within the caps in Article 19(1), which allow no more than two overtime hours a day and no more than 144 total working hours in any three weeks. An employer cannot simply keep the standard schedule and treat the reduction as optional.

Does the Ramadan reduction apply to free zone employees?

Employees of ordinary free zone companies are private sector workers under Article 3(1) of Federal Decree-Law 33/2021, so the federal rules reach them. The DIFC and ADGM operate under their own employment laws, so confirm the position in the applicable zone regulations rather than assuming the federal rule applies.

What are the Ramadan working hours for UAE government employees?

They are set separately each year by circular rather than by the Labour Law. For Ramadan 2026 the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources set federal entity hours at 9:00 am to 2:30 pm Monday to Thursday and 9:00 am to 12:00 pm on Friday, with up to 70 percent of employees permitted to work remotely on Fridays.

Do government offices and banks change their hours during Ramadan?

Yes, and the change is substantial. Federal counters close in the early afternoon for the whole month, and each emirate publishes its own timetable for local government entities. Plan any in-person application for the morning, because the effective service window shrinks by several hours a day.

How long is the Eid Al Fitr holiday in the UAE?

Eid Al Fitr runs from 1 to 3 Shawwal under Cabinet Resolution 27 of 2024, and if Ramadan lasts 30 days then day 30 is also treated as an official Eid Al Fitr holiday. The exact dates depend on moon sighting, so the final length of the break is confirmed only shortly before it begins.

Are shops and restaurants open during the day in Ramadan?

Supermarkets and grocery shops are open as usual and malls stay open until late night. The Government’s own guidance states that amusement parks, restaurants, cultural and tourist sites remain open throughout the day, although some individual restaurants adjust their hours or close during daylight and reopen fully at iftar.

Official Sources

This article references information from the following UAE government authorities and primary legal texts:

Information is current as of August 2026. Four limitations are stated rather than smoothed over. The overtime threshold during Ramadan is the plain consequence of Article 19(2) read with Article 15(2), but MOHRE has not published a standalone circular confirming it in those terms, so a payroll department may argue the point. The finding that no Ramadan public-eating offense survives in the 2021 Penal Code is based on our own reading of the full published text; Article 362(3) remains broad, emirate-level and venue-level rules are unaffected, and this is not a licence to be conspicuous. Federal and emirate government working hours are re-issued annually, so the 2026 figures above will change. mohre.gov.ae was not reachable directly at the time of writing, so its published position was cross-checked against the Official Platform of the UAE Government and the primary legal texts instead. This article explains published rules and is not legal advice. Verify your position with MOHRE or a licensed legal practitioner before acting.