Qatar End of Service Gratuity (EOSB) — Complete Guide 2026

The end of service gratuity — often abbreviated to EOSB (end of service benefit) — is a lump sum your employer in Qatar must pay you when your employment ends. It is a legal entitlement, not a bonus or a goodwill gesture, and it is owed whether you resign or your employer terminates you.

Qatar's gratuity is governed by Labour Law No. 14 of 2004, specifically Article 54, which sets out who qualifies, the minimum rate, and the wage the calculation is based on. The same article also lets an employer deduct from the gratuity any amount the worker genuinely owes the company.

Gratuity exists because Qatar, like the rest of the Gulf, has historically had no state pension for private-sector expatriate workers. The lump sum is meant to give you something to leave with — to move to a new job, return home, or retire on.

Article 54 covers private-sector employees working under the Labour Law. It does not cover:

• Government and public-sector employees, who are covered by separate civil and military retirement laws
• Domestic workers (housemaids, drivers, cooks, gardeners), who are covered by a separate law — see the dedicated section below
• Workers governed by special regimes such as the QFC (Qatar Financial Centre), which has its own employment regulations

Your gratuity is a statutory minimum. Your contract can offer more than the law requires, but any clause that tries to pay you less than Article 54, or to waive your gratuity entirely, has no legal effect.

There is one core requirement under Article 54:

You must have completed at least one year of continuous service with the same employer.

If you leave with less than one full year of service, no gratuity is due. There is no upper limit — the longer you stay, the more you accrue, at the same rate throughout.

What counts toward your service:

• Your probation period counts. Service runs from your first day of work, including any probation, not from your visa or residence-permit date.
• Authorised leave counts. Annual leave and other legally mandated leave are part of continuous service.
• Fractions of a year are paid pro-rata. Article 54 entitles you to gratuity "for the fractions of the year in proportion to the duration of employment." If you served three years and seven months, you are paid for the full three years plus a proportional amount for the extra seven months. An employer cannot round your service down to whole years.

The entitlement does not depend on your nationality, your job title, or your salary level. A site labourer and a country manager are entitled to gratuity on exactly the same basis — the only differences are the size of the basic wage and the length of service.

Article 54 sets a single, flat rate:

You earn at least three weeks' (21 days') basic wage for every year of service.

The exact wording of Article 54 is that the gratuity shall be "not less than a three-week remuneration for every year of employment." Three weeks is 21 days, and the rate is the same for every year — there is no higher tier for long service.

Daily rate = monthly basic salary / 30. Whatever the calendar length of the month, the day-rate convention used to value gratuity days is the monthly basic divided by 30.

The formula:

Gratuity = Years of service × 21 × (Monthly basic salary / 30)

Step by step:

1. Take your basic monthly salary — basic only, not the total package (see the basic-salary section below).
2. Work out your daily rate: basic monthly salary ÷ 30.
3. Multiply by 21 days for each year of service.
4. Add a pro-rata amount for any partial year (days in the partial year ÷ 365 × 21 × daily rate).

There is no cap on Qatar gratuity. Unlike the UAE, which caps gratuity at two years' salary, Article 54 sets only a minimum — your full entitlement is payable however large it is.

The rate is the same whether you resigned or were terminated, once you have completed your first year.

Every example below uses a basic monthly salary of QAR 8,000, giving a daily rate of QAR 8,000 ÷ 30 = QAR 266.67.

Example 1 — 3 years of service

• 3 years × 21 days = 63 days
• Gratuity = 63 × QAR 266.67 = QAR 16,800
• The same figure applies whether you resigned or were terminated.

Example 2 — 7 years of service

This is the case where the difference between the correct flat rate and the common "28-day" myth shows up clearly.

• All 7 years are paid at the flat 21-day rate: 7 × 21 = 147 days
• Gratuity = 147 × QAR 266.67 = QAR 39,200
• If you wrongly applied 28 days to years 6 and 7, you would get 161 days (QAR 42,933) — about QAR 3,700 too much. The law does not support that.

Example 3 — partial year, 4 years and 6 months

• Full years: 4 × 21 = 84 days → 84 × QAR 266.67 = QAR 22,400
• Partial year (6 months ≈ 182 days): 182/365 × 21 × QAR 266.67 = QAR 2,791
• Total ≈ QAR 25,191

Partial years always count. Your employer cannot ignore the extra six months.

Use our Qatar Gratuity Calculator to get your exact figure with a year-by-year breakdown.

Article 54 says the last basic wage is the basis for the calculation. This is one of the most important points to get right, because in Qatar the basic wage is often only part of the total package.

Gratuity is calculated on basic salary only. It excludes:

• Housing allowance
• Transport allowance
• Phone, food, and other allowances
• Commission, bonuses, and overtime
• Any other variable or in-kind benefit

For example, a package of QAR 12,000 made up of QAR 7,000 basic, QAR 3,500 housing, and QAR 1,500 transport is treated as a basic of QAR 7,000 for gratuity — not QAR 12,000. After five years:

That is a large difference, which is why a low basic with high allowances reduces gratuity. Check your contract: it should state your basic wage separately from allowances. If your contract gives a single figure with no breakdown, that whole figure is your basic wage for gratuity purposes.

Note: Qatar's basic-only rule is the same as the UAE's, but different from Saudi Arabia, which includes basic salary plus fixed allowances. Do not apply the Saudi rule to a Qatar calculation.

A very common belief — repeated on many calculator websites — is that Qatar pays 21 days a year for the first five years and a higher 28 days a year after that, mirroring the UAE's two-tier structure. This is not what the law says.

Article 54 of Labour Law No. 14 of 2004 sets a single flat minimum of "not less than a three-week remuneration for every year of employment." There is no second tier and no step-up after five years in the statute. The 28-day figure appears to be carried over by confusion with the UAE (whose federal law does raise the rate to 30 days a year after year five).

What this means for you:

• Your statutory entitlement is 21 days a year for the whole of your service, whether that is 2 years or 20.
• If an employer or a calculator quotes you 28 days a year after five years and calls it "the Qatar law", they are overstating your legal minimum. It is good to know the real floor so you can recognise both an underpayment and an over-generous (but non-binding) promise.
• An employer is free to pay more than 21 days a year by contract or as a goodwill gesture — many do. But that is a contractual top-up, not the Article 54 minimum. If you are relying on it, get it in writing in your contract.

You can read Article 54 yourself on Qatar's official legal portal (linked in the sources at the foot of this guide). When a figure is presented as "the law", it should be traceable to the law text — and the law text here is a flat three weeks per year.

Article 54 does not reduce your gratuity because you resigned. Once you have completed one year of service, you are entitled to the same gratuity whether you resign, are dismissed, finish a fixed-term contract, or leave by mutual agreement.

This is an important difference from Saudi Arabia, which applies graduated reductions to employees who resign with shorter service. Qatar has no such resignation tier in Article 54 — the rate and the entitlement are the same regardless of who ends the contract.

The 2020 labour reforms improved worker mobility more broadly: they removed the requirement for a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) to change employers and ended exit-permit requirements for most private-sector workers, and Qatar introduced a non-discriminatory minimum wage. These reforms made it easier to move between jobs — and your accrued gratuity is owed by each employer for the period you worked for them.

When gratuity can be withheld: The Labour Law allows an employer to dismiss a worker without notice and without gratuity in defined cases of serious misconduct — for example, assuming a false identity, submitting forged certificates, or other grave breaches listed in the law's summary-dismissal provisions. These are narrow grounds, and the burden is on the employer to prove them. A routine resignation or an ordinary termination is not one of them.

Domestic workers in Qatar — housemaids, nannies, private drivers, cooks, and gardeners employed in a household — are not covered by Labour Law No. 14 of 2004. They are covered by Law No. 15 of 2017 on domestic workers.

Under that law, a domestic worker who completes at least one year of service is entitled to an end-of-service payment of at least three weeks' wages for each year of service — the same three-week principle as Article 54 — alongside other protections such as a weekly rest day, paid annual leave, and an end-of-service settlement on departure.

If you are a domestic worker, the general gratuity calculator on this site (built for Labour Law employees) is a reasonable guide to the three-week-per-year amount, but your full rights sit under Law No. 15 of 2017. For disputes, the Ministry of Labour (ADLSA) handles domestic-worker complaints through a dedicated channel.

Your gratuity and any other final dues are payable at the end of your employment. If your employer delays or refuses to pay, there is a clear escalation path in Qatar — and it is free for the worker.

Step 1: Put the request in writing

Send a dated, written request (email is fine — it creates a record) to your HR or manager, asking for your gratuity and final settlement and referencing Article 54. Our Letter Generator can produce a professional request.

Step 2: File a complaint with the Ministry of Labour (ADLSA)

If that does not work, file a labour complaint with the Ministry of Labour (ADLSA), in person or through its channels. The Labour Relations Department will first try to settle the dispute amicably between you and the employer.

Step 3: Labour Dispute Settlement Committee

If the dispute is not settled, it is referred to a Labour Dispute Settlement Committee, the body Qatar established to decide individual labour disputes — including unpaid end-of-service entitlements — without the cost and delay of ordinary courts. Keep your contract, pay records, and a record of your start and end dates, as these are the documents that decide the claim.

The Workers' Support and Insurance Fund can, in defined cases, help cover dues a worker is owed where an employer fails to pay. Do not wait indefinitely — raise the complaint promptly once payment is overdue.

Whether through genuine error or to reduce the bill, these are the mistakes that most often shortchange workers in Qatar.

1. Calculating on the wrong wage

Gratuity is on basic wage only. Some calculations are wrongly run on the full package (in your favour) and some on an artificially low basic (against you). Use the basic figure in your contract.

2. Applying a non-existent 28-day tier

As covered above, Qatar's statutory rate is a flat 21 days a year. Anyone presenting 28 days a year after five years as "the law" is overstating the legal minimum.

3. Ignoring partial years

Months beyond your last full year must be paid pro-rata. Rounding your service down to whole years is not permitted under Article 54.

4. Counting from the visa date

Your service runs from your first day of work, including probation — not from the date your residence permit or visa was issued.

5. Tying gratuity to visa cancellation

Your end-of-service dues are an entitlement on the end of the contract. They should not be made conditional on you signing away other rights.

To sense-check an employer's figure against the flat 21-day rule, run your numbers through our Qatar Gratuity Calculator and compare the breakdown line by line.