Dismissed During DIFC Probation: What Notice, Pay and Benefits Are You Owed?

If your DIFC employer ended your employment while an agreed probation period was still running, it did not have to give you the minimum termination notice in Article 62(2) of the DIFC Employment Law. Article 62(6)(a) switches that minimum off during probation, and the Small Claims Tribunal has dismissed claims for notice pay on exactly that ground. Three things can still change your position: whether probation had in fact ended, or been validly extended, on the day you were told to go, whether your own contract gives notice during probation, and the money owed whatever the notice position, which is your pay to the last day, accrued leave and any pension contributions the employer has not lawfully deferred, all payable within 14 days.

These disputes turn on dates. Fix the five below before you reply to the employer.

Was your probation still running on the day you were dismissed?

Count from the commencement date, which is the date in your contract unless it was validly changed, not from the day your visa was issued or the day you signed. Article 62(6)(a) disapplies the statutory minimum only during a probation period agreed in an Employment Contract, so a termination after the agreed period has run attracts the ordinary minimum of 7 days below three months of continuous employment, 30 days up to five years and 90 after that, unless the contract gives more. If no probation was agreed at all, on the words of the provision the minimum applies from the first day.

A few days can decide the claim. In SCT 063/2023, decided on 5 May 2023, the employer said employment began when the agreement was signed, though the agreement gave an earlier joining date, and when asked for its payroll records it supplied only the employee's visa. The Tribunal cited Article 16(1)(b), which requires every employer to record the commencement date, used the date in the agreement, found six months and ten days of service against a six-month probation, and awarded 30 days' notice of AED 17,000.

The arithmetic went the other way in CFI 046/2025, an appeal decided on 16 September 2025. The contract gave a start date of 20 November 2023 with six months' probation, but the employer had agreed by email to push the start to 27 November, and the termination letter came on 23 May 2024: outside probation on the first date, inside it on the second. The Court of First Instance held that a start date is not an administrative detail, because it fixes continuous employment and the probation window, so the change had to be in writing and signed by both sides under Article 14(3). It held that the email exchange met that requirement, treating the employee's reply, which ended with her name, as signed, and dismissed the appeal.

Can your employer extend probation, and what if you never agreed?

On our reading, not without your agreement in writing, and Article 14(2)(l) caps probation at six months in any event. Article 14(3) requires any amendment to an Employment Contract to be in writing and signed by both employer and employee, unless it is administrative only, in which case the employer must record it and give written notice before it takes effect.

The one extension dispute among the decisions read for this guide is SCT 183/2023, decided on 5 July 2023. A general manager started on 5 September 2022 under a three-month probation during which the employer was free to end the contract without notice. She said probation ended on 3 December 2022, that the contract had no extension clause and required signed written amendments, and that she had signed none. The employer said it extended probation by three months to 5 March 2023 for performance reasons and that she accepted by email. She was dismissed on 21 February 2023. The Tribunal could not find that she had reasonable grounds to believe she had completed probation and dismissed her claim for six months' notice of USD 199,696.44 under the contract's probation clause and Article 62(6)(a).

Two caveats matter. The judgment does not discuss Article 14(3) or the signed-amendment clause, and the extension took probation to six months in total, inside the cap. Our reading, in light of CFI 046/2025, is that an extension moves the end of the probation window as a new start date does, so Article 14(3) applies to it, and an acceptance sent by email and bearing your name may satisfy it. On the same reading, a notice you never answered gives the employer weaker ground. No published decision we located decides a unilateral extension, or one that takes probation past six months.

The cards restate the dates that decide whether probation was running.

Why does the statutory termination notice switch off during DIFC probation?

Because Article 62 says so. Article 62(1) lets either side end employment without cause, and Article 62(2) sets the minimum written notice subject to Articles 62(3), 62(4), 62(6) and 63. Article 62(6) then lists three situations in which that minimum does not apply: during a probation period agreed in an Employment Contract, at the end of an agreed fixed term, and on termination for excessive sick leave under Article 36(1). Schedule 1 follows the same line, fixing the Termination Date of a contract ended without notice during probation as the day the termination takes effect.

The text the Tribunal applied in 2023 and 2024 is the text in force today. The DIFC Employment Law is Consolidated Version No. 5 of July 2025, and none of the amending laws listed for it changed Article 62. The judgments name the 2021 amending law or other numbers as the governing law, but the provisions they quote are those of DIFC Law No. 2 of 2019 as consolidated.

What did SCT 197/2023 and SCT 107/2024 decide?

Both dismissed claims by employees let go inside an agreed six-month probation. In SCT 197/2023, decided on 19 July 2023, the employee started on 13 March 2023 and was let go six or seven weeks later, the parties giving different dates. The claim was for 60 days' notice, AED 72,000, under a clause that an unlimited contract would end on 60 days' written notice. The employer said that clause applied only after probation, and its defence accepted seven days' pay, AED 8,130. The Tribunal held that Article 62(2), and the longer contractual period Article 62(3) allows, do not apply within probation, found no legal requirement for notice within probation, and dismissed the claim outright.

In SCT 107/2024, decided on 16 August 2024, the employee was dismissed on 10 November 2023, 20 days before her probation ended, with three months' notice due under her contract only after probation. She claimed AED 100,000 for unfair and arbitrary termination, alleging bad faith in hiring her as maternity cover. The Tribunal held that the DIFC Employment Law is silent on unfair dismissal, that the DIFC Courts have declined to remedy it since a 2009 Court of First Instance decision, that the concept exists in federal law only, and that Article 4 restricts DIFC employees to the rights in the DIFC Employment Law. The employer had acted within the agreement and Articles 62(1) and 62(6)(a), and the claim was dismissed.

Both were decided while the Judicial Authority Law set the DIFC Courts' jurisdiction. No later appeal, permission application or Tribunal application appears for either claim, or for SCT 183/2023, in the DIFC Courts' published lists, including the Court of Appeal and Court of First Instance, or in the Conflicts of Jurisdiction Tribunal's published decisions, searched on 16 October 2026.

Common mistake. Arguing that a dismissal inside an agreed probation was unfair. The Tribunal has not required statutory notice inside probation, even where the employer's own defence accepted a week's pay, and the arguments that move money are about dates and the contract's wording.

Does the notice clause in your contract still count during probation?

It can, if the clause applies during probation. Article 62(6)(a) removes the statutory minimum, while Article 11(2)(a) allows a contract to be more favourable than the Law. In SCT 322/2022, decided on 12 October 2022, the contract gave either side two weeks' notice during a six-month probation, and the employer gave the two weeks with the employee told not to attend. The Tribunal treated the two weeks as required by the contract, held her entitled to pay until they ended, and dismissed her claims for three months' pay and for damages for stress.

So read the clause before the label. In SCT 107/2024 the three months applied in terms only after probation, and in SCT 183/2023 the probation clause allowed termination without notice. SCT 197/2023 went further: the employer said its 60-day clause applied only after probation, but the Tribunal did not decide that point and held instead that the longer period Article 62(3) allows does not apply within probation. Our reading is that a notice period the contract expressly gives during probation is owed as a contractual term, consistently with SCT 322/2022, while a general notice clause that does not mention probation failed in SCT 197/2023.

What must still be paid after a probation dismissal?

Everything you earned up to the Termination Date, whatever the notice position. First, wages: Article 19(1)(a) requires all Remuneration within 14 days of the Termination Date, and Article 18(1) already requires each pay period's earnings within seven days of its end. Second, accrued leave. Article 27(1) sets twenty Work Days a year for an employee employed for at least 90 days, subject to Article 30, under which leave accrues in the first year at one-twelfth of the annual entitlement each month. Article 28 requires payment for leave accrued and not taken at the Daily Wage, which for a five-day week is annual wage divided by 260, and Article 19(1)(c) makes it due within the same 14 days.

Third, end-of-service benefits, which after a short probation means pension contributions rather than a gratuity. Article 66(1) gives a Gratuity Payment only after at least a year of continuous employment, and only for service before the Qualifying Scheme Commencement Date, which for a non-exempt employee hired on or after 1 February 2020 is the date of employment. Monthly core benefits, the qualifying-scheme contributions often called DEWS, run from that date under Article 66(7), but Article 66(12) lets an employer defer them during an agreed probation. If it deferred and your employment is not confirmed, none are payable. If it did not defer, what was paid in remains yours, and contributions due but never paid fall within Article 19(1)(d). The DEWS guide listed under Related Guides shows how to check that record. Fourth, any further benefit in your contract, on its own terms.

When must final pay arrive, and when does the daily penalty start?

Within 14 days of the Termination Date, after which a daily penalty can run. Article 19(2) gives you your Daily Wage for each day the employer is in arrears with the Article 19(1) sums. Article 19(3) allows that only where the amount outstanding is held by a Court to exceed your Weekly Wage, which is annual wage divided by 52, and Article 19(4) requires the Court to waive it for any period in which a dispute about an amount due under Article 19(1) is pending before the Court, or in which your own unreasonable conduct is the material cause of non-payment.

The waiver is narrower than employers sometimes assume. In CA 002/2022, decided on 2 September 2022, the Court of Appeal held that Article 19(1) is a deadline for paying entitlements arising elsewhere, that sums the employer admitted had to be paid within 14 days, and that a counterclaim which did not dispute those sums did not suspend the obligation or the penalty. Our reading for a probation exit is that a disagreement about notice pay does not entitle an employer to hold back wages and leave it accepts are owed.

The penalty is not automatic either. In SCT 183/2023 the penalty claim of USD 27,472.08 failed because nothing was owed, and the only sum paid after the 14 days, a travel expense delayed by a bank transfer problem, did not meet the Article 19 criteria. The final settlement guide listed under Related Guides covers the wider exit account.

You resigned during probation: what did SCT 010/2024 decide?

That an employee left unpaid for months could resign at once for cause, even in probation, and still be awarded wages, leave and pay in lieu of notice. In SCT 010/2024, decided on 10 June 2024, the employee started on 22 July 2023 at AED 18,365 a month, went unpaid for October, November and part of December, and resigned on 14 December 2023 without serving notice. The employer said the resignation was defective, admitted the unpaid wages, and claimed set-offs including AED 10,000 in training costs and AED 8,570.33 for notice not served.

The Tribunal held the resignation valid as a termination for cause under Article 63(1), whatever the employer's financial difficulties, noting that Article 18(1) requires pay within seven days after each pay period ends. It awarded the unpaid wages, a full month's pay of AED 18,365 under Article 63(2)(a) in place of the ten December days the employer admitted, and 5.5 days of leave, AED 4,661.8, rejecting the argument that resigning in probation forfeited leave. It refused the training and notice deductions, allowed others the employee had agreed in writing or that followed from the housing arrangements, and awarded AED 43,577.33 and the court fee.

On 2 August 2024 the Court of First Instance refused the employer permission to appeal, sought only on a rent deduction, holding that a housing allowance in the package cannot be deducted unless the contract or Article 20 allows it. One point remains open: the judgment does not explain how Article 62(6)(a) bears on the payment under Article 63(2)(a) for an employee still in probation, and the permission application did not raise it.

Can the employer claw back recruitment, training or visa costs?

Not recruitment costs after a dismissal, on the words of Article 21. Article 21(2) bars an employer from recouping recruitment costs, and the only exception, in Article 21(3), applies where the employee ends the contract, other than for cause under Article 63, with a Termination Date within six months of starting. Even then the costs must be reasonable, directly incurred in recruiting you, supported by proof given to you, and specified in the contract as payable in that event. Article 57(2) separately bars recouping visa and permit costs or keeping your passport.

So an employer that brings your employment to an end in probation has no Article 21(3) claim, and an employee who resigns in the first six months faces one only if every condition is met. In SCT 010/2024 the training-cost clause did not apply because the resignation was for cause, and no training had been given anyway. The guide to training-cost claims on resignation covers them in detail.

Older law drew the same line. In CFI 027/2012, a 2014 judgment under the repealed Employment Law of 2005, an employee who resigned during an extended probation was summarily dismissed a month later, and a clause making the recruitment fee repayable when the employee gave notice was held not to apply because the employer had ended the employment. It is historical only, though on our reading Article 21(3) now draws the same distinction.

The cards collect what survives a probation dismissal.

Can you claim unfair dismissal, or demand written reasons?

No unfair-dismissal claim exists under the DIFC Employment Law, as SCT 107/2024 confirmed, and the statutory right to written reasons does not extend to an ordinary probation exit. Article 64 requires the employer to give written reasons within 14 days of a request made within 30 days of the Termination Date, but only for a termination for cause under Article 63(1).

That changes if the employer says it dismissed you for cause. Article 63(1) then asks whether your conduct warranted termination and whether a reasonable employer would have terminated, Article 63(3) excludes pay in lieu of notice but keeps leave accrued to the Termination Date, and Article 64 lets you ask for reasons. The guide to challenging a dismissal for cause covers that test.

Do discrimination and victimisation protections apply during probation?

Yes. Part 9 of the Employment Law contains no exception for probation. Article 59(1) bars discrimination on grounds of sex, marital status, race, nationality, age, pregnancy and maternity, religion and mental or physical disability, Article 59(3) treats a dismissal as discriminatory if it breaches Article 59(2), and Article 60 bars victimisation, including dismissal, for a protected act such as a discrimination complaint. Article 62(6)(a) removes a notice minimum. It does not authorise a dismissal on a prohibited ground.

The procedure differs. Article 61(1)(a) puts the burden of proof on the complainant, Article 61(2) requires the claim within six months of the act unless the Court finds that circumstances justify a different period, and Articles 61(5) and 61(7) allow a declaration, recommendations and compensation, including for injured feelings, of up to the employee's Annual Wage. Schedule 1 defines the Court, for Part 9 claims, as the Court of First Instance. The claim must be pleaded as well. In SCT 183/2023 arguments at the hearing that the employee had been discriminated against were not addressed, because they were not among the remedies she had claimed, and in SCT 107/2024 the bad-faith allegation was argued as unfair dismissal and decided on that footing. The discrimination guide listed under Related Guides sets out the victimisation test.

What happens to your residence visa after a probation exit?

Article 57(3) requires you and a sponsoring employer to work together to have the residence visa cancelled promptly, and within 30 days of the Termination Date, which after a probation exit without notice is the day the termination took effect. Article 57(4) makes an employer in breach liable to a fine, and Article 57(2), covered above, bars charging you for the visa. The guide for when an employer will not cancel the visa covers delay.

Where do you claim, and by when?

Usually in the Small Claims Tribunal, within six months of the Termination Date under Article 10. Claims for unlawful deductions or unpaid Remuneration have a separate six months under Article 20(2), counted from when the sum was paid or fell due, or from the last of a series. A two-year look-back limits them, except for certain claims such as core benefits, and Part 9 claims have their own six months under Article 61(2).

Jurisdiction now rests on Dubai Law No. 2 of 2025, in force since March 2025, not on the Judicial Authority Law under which every decision above except CFI 046/2025 was given, and its Article 14(A)(1) gives the DIFC Courts sole jurisdiction over employment claims involving a DIFC Establishment. Under Rule 53.2 of Part 53 of the Rules of the DIFC Courts the Tribunal takes claims up to AED 500,000, and employment claims of any size where every party elects in writing for it. SCT 183/2023, a claim above AED 500,000, was heard there with the parties' consent. Each side normally pays its own costs under Rule 53.79. An appeal needs permission from the Court of First Instance under Rules 53.89 to 53.91, sought within 14 days under Rule 53.107 on the grounds in Article 21 of the 2025 Law, and that Court's decision on it is final.

Deadline warning. After a termination without notice in probation, the 14 days for final pay, the 30 days for visa cancellation and the six months to claim all run from the day the termination took effect, under the definition of Termination Date in Schedule 1. On that definition, a later settlement document or exit meeting does not move the date.

What should you gather, and where do these claims go wrong?

Across the decisions read for this guide, the statutory question was rarely in doubt. What decided the money was a start date, an email about an extension or a clause that applied only after probation, and the papers that fix those points include emails as well as the contract file.

1. Put the contract, the appointment letter and every schedule side by side, and copy out the commencement date and the probation clause exactly as written.
2. Find every email that changed the start date or extended probation, with your reply, and check whether you signed off with your name.
3. Count the probation period from the start date to the day the termination took effect, and check that any extension kept probation within six months.
4. Read the notice clause and decide whether it applies during probation, after it, or both.
5. List unpaid wages, accrued unused leave at the Daily Wage, and any core benefits the employer did not pay and did not defer.
6. Diary 14 days for payment, 30 days for visa cancellation and six months for the claim, each from the Termination Date.
7. If you believe the dismissal was on a prohibited ground or followed a complaint you made, bring it as a Part 9 claim within its own six months.
8. Send the employer one letter with your figures and the dates, then issue the claim for whatever remains unpaid.

Four lessons come out of these decisions. Framing a probation exit as unfair dismissal produced nothing in SCT 107/2024. Raising discrimination first at the hearing left it undecided in SCT 183/2023. On the employer's proposed start date the employee in SCT 063/2023 would still have been in probation, so the 30 days' notice turned on the date in the agreement. And a signed final settlement needs reading against Article 11(2)(b), which allows Employment Law claims to be given up only where the agreement contains a warranty that the employee had the opportunity of independent legal advice, or the parties first took part in Court mediation. In CFI 046/2025 the Tribunal had refused to treat a signed final settlement as a bar, and the Court gave permission to cross-appeal on what that warranty requires but declined to decide it, so the question is open.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my DIFC employer end my employment during probation without notice? Yes, if an agreed probation period was still running and your contract gives no notice during probation. Article 62(6)(a) disapplies the statutory minimum during an agreed probation, and the Tribunal dismissed notice claims on that ground in SCT 197/2023 and SCT 107/2024. A contract that gives notice during probation is a different case: in SCT 322/2022 the Tribunal treated a two-week probation notice clause as binding.

My employer extended my probation by email. Is the extension valid? It may be. In SCT 183/2023 the employer's case was that the employee accepted a three-month extension by email, and her claim for notice failed. Article 14(3) requires contract amendments in writing signed by both sides, and in CFI 046/2025 the Court treated an email ending with the employee's name as signed. No published decision we located decides an extension you never accepted.

Can a DIFC probation period last longer than six months? Article 14(2)(l) provides for a probation period of up to six months, or no more than half the term of a fixed contract of six months or less. The Law does not say what happens to a longer period and we located no published decision on the point. On our reading, months beyond the cap are open to challenge, but that is untested.

Will I be paid for unused leave if I am dismissed during probation? Yes, for leave accrued and not taken. Leave accrues monthly in the first year under Article 30(2), Article 28(1) requires payment in lieu on termination at the Daily Wage, and Article 19(1)(c) puts it within the 14 days. In SCT 010/2024 the Tribunal awarded pro rata leave to an employee who left during probation.

Am I owed a gratuity or DEWS contributions after a short probation? Not a gratuity, which Article 66(1) allows only after a year of continuous employment and only for service before the Qualifying Scheme Commencement Date. Core benefits are different. Article 66(12) lets an employer defer them during probation, and if it did and your employment was not confirmed none are payable, but contributions it did not defer and actually paid in remain yours.

Can I claim unfair dismissal if I was let go weeks before probation ended? No. In SCT 107/2024 an employee dismissed 20 days before the end of probation claimed compensation for unfair and arbitrary termination, and the Tribunal dismissed it because the DIFC Employment Law contains no unfair-dismissal remedy. A notice claim may still lie if probation had already ended, or under Part 9 if the dismissal was on a prohibited ground or was victimisation.

If I resign during probation, can my employer require me to repay recruitment costs? Only within Article 21(3): you terminated for a reason other than cause within six months of starting, and the costs were reasonable, directly incurred in recruiting you, proved to you and specified in your contract. Visa costs cannot be recouped under Article 57(2), and in SCT 010/2024 a training-cost clause did not apply because the employee resigned for cause.

What is the time limit for a claim after a probation dismissal? Six months from the Termination Date under Article 10, which after a termination without notice in probation is the day the termination took effect. Claims about unlawful deductions or non-payment run under Article 20(2) from the payment date, or the last in a series, and a discrimination or victimisation claim must be brought within six months of the act under Article 61(2), in the Court of First Instance.

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?
• Your DIFC Pension Account Is Missing Employer Contributions
• Treated Worse After a DIFC Discrimination Complaint?