Your DIFC Bonus Was Approved but Has Not Been Paid

If your DIFC employer approved a bonus but has not paid it, you may have a recoverable claim even where the scheme originally gave the employer discretion. But you must establish what was approved, by whom, for which period and subject to which conditions. Approval of a bonus does not necessarily prove the percentage or amount you remember discussing.

Start with a short bonus file: the signed scheme, the full approval message, the authorised decision-maker's name, the calculation base, the relevant dates and your bank record showing what remains unpaid. This guide concerns a bonus under DIFC-governed employment. It is not a statement about every employee working in Dubai.

What proves that your DIFC bonus was approved?

The strongest file connects the promise to the scheme and then to an identifiable amount. An encouraging conversation alone leaves several gaps. The speaker may have been recommending an award rather than approving it, the figure may have been provisional, or the payment may depend on a later event.

Write the promise in one line using only the documents: the named person approved the stated award for the identified period on the recorded date. Put a question mark beside anything the records do not establish. That exercise is more useful than beginning with a large total and looking backwards for messages that seem to support it.

Point to establish	Useful record	Common gap
The scheme applying to you	Signed bonus terms and amendments	A different year's policy is being used
Exercise of discretion	Approval from the required person or a reliable communication of that approval	A recommendation is mistaken for final approval
The amount	Rate, financial base and period calculation	A message confirms payment but not the claimed percentage
The due date	Award letter, scheme and written deferral	An expected payroll date is treated as an agreed deadline
The unpaid balance	Payment records and a reconciliation	A partial payment or adjustment has been omitted

Read the scheme for the identity of the approver, not just the word discretionary. A chairman's approval requirement, a remuneration committee decision and a manager's recommendation are different steps. If the message comes through HR, retain the full thread showing how HR knew the decision and exactly what it communicated. Do not rewrite an ambiguous assurance as an unconditional undertaking.

Does the word discretionary end the claim?

No. It is important, but it does not resolve whether the employer already exercised the relevant discretion. The actual scheme may leave the decision to award anything open, allow a choice of amount, impose conditions, or combine those features. Your claim must match the wording.

In Naimah v Nabil [2024] DIFC SCT 296, paragraphs 17-22, the signed scheme was discretionary and provided for a 0.5% net-profit bonus if approved. Messages communicated the chairman's approval. The SCT found an entitlement, but not the 1% rate the employee claimed. It awarded AED 200,500 rather than AED 401,000.

That is a fact-specific SCT judgment, not a rule that every verbal assurance defeats a discretionary clause. Its useful distinction is between proof that an award was approved and proof of its size. The employee succeeded on the former and failed to establish the larger rate.

Past payments can help explain the relationship, but they should not replace the current scheme. An employer may say that previous awards related to different financial years, different targets or separate approvals. Put those explanations beside the actual records. If earlier payments consistently used a particular calculation, preserve the calculations as well as the bank credits. A credit alone does not explain why it was made.

Key takeaway. A discretionary scheme and an approved award are not the same stage of the decision. Prove both the approval and its terms before deciding what is owed.

What if WhatsApp says approved but does not give a figure?

Use the message for what it actually establishes, then find the missing calculation elsewhere. A message saying payment is coming may corroborate an approval. It may not identify the applicable percentage, the profits covered or an agreed payment date.

Keep the complete exchange, including the date, sender details, earlier messages and any attachments. A cropped screenshot invites an avoidable disagreement about context. Preserve the original device or account lawfully and keep an unchanged export where available. Do not access an employer's systems after your permission has ended to improve the evidence file.

Where the approval was passed through a manager, record the manager's role and the scheme's approval process. Ask the employer to confirm whether it disputes that approval occurred, disputes the messenger's authority, or disputes only the amount. Those are different cases to answer. A denial of the entire award should not be confused with a disagreement over the spreadsheet.

Read any later performance criticism against its date. Was it raised before the award decision, between approval and payment, or only after you chased? That chronology may help explain the dispute, but a favourable appraisal does not itself prove a bonus entitlement. Nor does criticism necessarily cancel one. The scheme and the terms of the actual approval still matter.

The shortest message can become the most important document, but only when its context survives. Preserve the discussion around an apparent admission. Do not improve its wording in a demand letter until an uncertain promise begins to look like a clear one that the employer never made.

How do I calculate a profit-linked bonus?

Begin with the contractual definition of profit and the relevant accounting period. Revenue, gross profit, net profit and cash collected are not interchangeable descriptions. A percentage is unusable until the base to which it applies is identified.

Your working sheet should show the period, the agreed base, the rate, any permitted adjustment, payments already received and the outstanding balance. If the contract uses a financial-year result but you left partway through that year, identify the term addressing partial periods. Do not assume a daily apportionment merely because it produces an attractive number.

If you do not possess the necessary accounts, say so expressly. Identify the records needed to complete the calculation, such as the relevant profit statement and any approved adjustments. Explain why those particular records matter. A request for every company account over several years is less focused than a request tied to a disputed line in the scheme.

Keep alternative calculations transparent. If you claim a higher rate because of a later amendment, show the signed original rate, the alleged change and the evidence of acceptance. You can identify the amount supported by the original document without pretending it proves the amendment. Naimah illustrates why the larger percentage needs its own evidentiary foundation.

Do not copy another judgment's interest rate or court-fee award into your spreadsheet as though it were part of your bonus. Separate principal, any claimed interest, any statutory penalty and litigation expenses. Each needs its own basis. This also makes a settlement discussion clearer when the parties agree the principal but dispute the additions.

Does leaving the job make the bonus immediately payable?

Not necessarily. Leaving employment does not replace the scheme's entitlement and payment conditions. Under Articles 18(2) and 19(1) of the DIFC Employment Law, additional payments may be deferred and made subject to conditions by written agreement. The termination-payment provision expressly treats validly deferred additional payments differently.

Read any condition requiring employment on the payment date, completion of a performance period or an approval before departure. Then ask whether it applies to this award and whether the documents changed it. An award letter issued after resignation may matter, but its effect depends on its terms. There is no safe shortcut from the words final settlement to an entitlement to every expected incentive.

Where the award falls within remuneration due under Article 19(1), the statutory fourteen-day termination-payment rule can matter. Do not assume that every unpaid bonus automatically attracts the daily-wage penalty. Article 19(2)-(4) contains a threshold and waivers, including for the period during which the relevant dispute is pending in court. The bonus's classification and due date must be settled first.

Check limitation before waiting through another promised payment cycle. An unpaid bonus may engage Article 20(2), which addresses non-payment of remuneration as well as unlawful deductions. Its six-month clock generally runs from when the remuneration should have been paid, or the last relevant event in a qualifying series. It also imposes a two-year recovery backstop, subject to specified exceptions for particular statutory payments. A bonus claim should not be assumed to fall within those exceptions.

Article 10's general rule allowing claims during employment or within six months after termination is expressly subject to Article 20(2). Do not wait until you leave if a payment-specific clock is already running. The payment's classification, agreed deferral and any alleged series require analysis. A genuinely separate contractual cause of action needs its own limitation assessment. An HR acknowledgement or another promise to pay is not, without more, a safe basis for treating a deadline as restarted.

Deadline warning. Do not copy the timing of Naimah's claim into your own calendar. The judgment does not determine every limitation issue that could arise in another employee's statutory or contractual claim.

What should I send before starting proceedings?

Send a focused request identifying the award, its supporting records and the disputed balance. Avoid accusing a colleague of dishonesty simply because the payment has not arrived. The immediate objective is to establish the employer's position clearly enough to assess the claim.

1. Identify the employing legal entity and the bonus scheme by name and date.
2. Attach or accurately identify the approval communication and the relevant payment term.
3. Provide a calculation with the rate, base, period and credit for any payment received.
4. Ask whether approval, amount, conditions or timing is disputed, and request the documents needed to resolve that dispute.
5. Record a sensible response date while separately protecting any court deadline.

If the employer proposes instalments, distinguish a payment schedule from a release of claims. Read what happens after a missed instalment and whether the document acknowledges an existing debt or instead settles a disputed amount. Check whether signing it also releases unrelated salary, discrimination or other claims. A short bonus dispute can become a much wider compromise through one broadly worded clause.

Similarly, do not describe accepting a partial payment as full settlement unless that is genuinely intended and the terms have been assessed. Keep the receipt, the covering message and the balance calculation together. Communications should make the parties' positions clearer, not leave another argument about what was accepted.

The response normally identifies which part of the evidence needs further work.

Which DIFC court route and costs should I consider?

Check DIFC jurisdiction first, then the appropriate division and procedure. RDC 53.2 provides the ordinary SCT route for qualifying claims not exceeding AED 500,000. Employment claims can fall within the SCT's elective jurisdiction without a value limit where all parties elect in writing. The amount alone does not create DIFC jurisdiction.

The SCT consultation is intended to help the parties resolve the dispute under RDC 53.21-53.22. Prepare for it by reconciling the calculation. If the employer says a particular project was excluded from net profit, locate the clause and the accounting entry. If it says the chairman approved a pool rather than your allocation, identify the communication addressing your individual award. These questions are more useful than treating every disagreement as a refusal to honour the same promise.

Budget for the possibility that professional fees are not recovered in full. The current SCT costs provision, RDC 53.79, restricts recovery subject to its exceptions. Do not rely on the older rule numbering quoted in a historic judgment. Court fees and the expense of hiring a lawyer are also different categories.

For a claim in the Court of First Instance, Practice Direction 1 of 2025, paragraphs 1.2-4.3, contains an employment-specific framework. It includes discretionary filing-fee relief, a general own-legal-costs position with exceptions, and a privacy default that the court may lift. Those provisions are not a promise of a free case or absolute confidentiality.

Before filing, decide the exact relief sought and how it follows from the documents. Your objective may be a fixed approved award, a balance after partial payment, or an amount requiring financial evidence. Keep the profit calculation reproducible: label provisional figures, identify currency conversions if genuinely required by the scheme and distinguish actual accounting adjustments from guesses. If an amount is agreed, ask whether only the timing remains in dispute. The answer changes the problem from establishing an award to documenting how it will be paid.

Sources checked on 29 September 2026 against the July 2025 Employment Law consolidation. Confirm any later amendments before relying on a deadline or entitlement. The case-history search was limited to the published decisions located, not a certification that no later or unpublished order exists.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a discretionary bonus become payable after approval? It can, depending on the scheme and the approval proved. Naimah awarded a bonus after finding that approval had occurred, but did not accept the employee's larger claimed percentage.

Is a WhatsApp message enough? It may be important evidence, but its context, sender and wording matter. A message confirming an award does not necessarily establish the amount or remove other payment conditions.

Do previous bonus payments guarantee another award? No such guarantee should be assumed. Read the applicable scheme and identify the approval for the period now claimed.

What if I cannot obtain the company's profit figures? Identify the precise records needed for the contractual calculation and explain the gap. Do not replace missing accounts with an unexplained estimate presented as an established debt.

Must an approved bonus be paid within fourteen days of leaving? That depends on the payment's classification and terms. Article 19 expressly excludes additional payments validly deferred under Article 18(2) from that part of the termination-payment obligation.

Does every late bonus attract a daily-wage penalty? No. Article 19's scope, threshold and waiver provisions must be applied to the particular payment. An unpaid amount is not itself a complete penalty calculation.

Should I wait because HR has promised payment next month? Check the deadline now. Article 20(2) can apply a six-month clock from the payment's due date or the last event in a qualifying series, with a separate two-year backstop and specified exceptions. Article 10's general post-termination rule does not displace that analysis. Do not assume HR's acknowledgement restarts time.

Will the employer pay all my legal fees if I win? Do not assume so. The SCT restricts costs recovery, and CFI employment claims have a separate own-legal-costs starting point with exceptions under Practice Direction 1 of 2025.

This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a qualified advocate for advice on your specific situation.

Related Guides

Our DIFC employment page sets out which employment regime applies, the requirements on final pay and deductions, and the time limits on a claim.

• Left Your DIFC Job but Your Final Settlement Is Not Paid?
• Asked to Settle DIFC Salary Arrears for Less During a Takeover?
• One Company Employs You, Another Pays: Who Owes DIFC Wages?