Employer Won't Pay Your Commission in the UAE? How to Claim It

Unpaid commission is one of the most frustrating disputes in the UAE, because it usually is not a flat refusal. It is a recalculation. A target that moved. A deal that "was not really yours". A clawback nobody mentioned when you closed it. The money is real, everyone knows it was earned, and yet the claim can be surprisingly difficult to run.

This guide explains where commission sits in UAE labour law, why variable-pay claims behave differently from unpaid salary claims, and exactly what evidence turns "they owe me" into a claim that survives.

Commission Is Wage — When It Is Contractual

Article 1 of Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 defines wage as everything the worker receives in cash or in kind in return for their work, including basic salary, allowances and benefits. Commission earned under a defined scheme, in return for work performed, sits within that definition.

That matters for two reasons. It means unpaid commission is not a lesser category of complaint, and it means the protections that attach to wages are engaged — including Article 53, which requires all wages, entitlements and gratuity to be paid within 14 days of termination.

The important qualifier is contractual. A scheme with defined triggers, rates and calculation dates is an obligation. A payment described as entirely discretionary, with no defined entitlement, is a much weaker claim, because there is no fixed promise to enforce. Most real-world schemes sit somewhere between the two, and where yours sits on that spectrum will decide the case.

Why Commission Claims Behave Differently

An unpaid salary claim is arithmetic. The contract says AED 18,000, the bank shows nothing arrived, the claim is AED 18,000.

A commission claim requires the tribunal to work out what you earned before it can order it paid. That involves the scheme rules, the deals, the timing, and often a genuine dispute about attribution. The practical consequence is that MOHRE mediators frequently steer variable-pay claims towards the labour court, particularly where the numbers are contested and the paperwork is thin. MOHRE can issue a binding decision on claims of AED 50,000 or less, but only where the amount can actually be established.

So the goal is not just to prove you were owed something. It is to make the number so easy to compute that nobody needs a hearing to establish it.

The Registered Contract Beats the Offer Letter

This is the single most important structural point. Your claim is materially stronger where the commission scheme appears in the MOHRE-registered employment contract rather than only in an offer letter, an internal target sheet, or an email from a sales director.

MOHRE clarified in July 2026 that the registered contract is the operative document and that amendments must be recorded through MOHRE's Amend Work Permit and Contract service. An unregistered addendum does not override it. The same logic works in your favour: a scheme inside the registered contract is on the record the regulator already holds.

If your scheme lives only in an offer letter, the claim is not lost — offer letters and consistent conduct still carry weight — but you will be arguing about which document governs before you get to argue about the money.

The Evidence That Makes a Claim Survive

Gather these before you file, not after:

• The signed commission schedule or target document. Whatever sets rates, thresholds, qualifying criteria and payment dates. Signed and dated beats emailed and undated.
• Payslips showing prior commission payments. This is the quiet workhorse of a commission claim. Six months of payslips showing commission calculated the same way establishes a course of dealing — a consistent practice that the employer cannot easily disown when it becomes inconvenient.
• Written approvals. Any message where a manager confirms your figures, signs off a payout sheet, or congratulates you on hitting a specific number. These convert your calculation into their admission.
• CRM and sales records. Exports showing deals closed, dates, values and the owner assigned. Where attribution is the fight, this is the battleground. Export what you are entitled to hold before any access is switched off.
• The bank statements. What actually arrived, and when.
• Your own timeline. A simple table of period, amount earned, amount paid and shortfall. Mediators are working through a queue; do the arithmetic for them.

Common Myths About Unpaid Commission

• Myth: commission is a bonus, so it is always discretionary. Where a scheme sets out how commission is earned and calculated, it is not discretionary in any meaningful sense. Labels do not decide the character of a payment; the terms do.
• Myth: if I resign, I forfeit commission on closed deals. Forfeiture depends on what the scheme says and whether that term is lawful. Earned wage does not evaporate because you gave notice, and anything outstanding is caught by the 14-day final settlement obligation in Article 53.
• Myth: they can change the scheme retroactively. Contract provisions including pay cannot be altered without your explicit written consent, and amendments must be recorded with MOHRE. A scheme rewritten after you earned the commission is a very different document from the one you worked under.
• Myth: the rules are the same in the free zones. DIFC and ADGM have separate employment laws and their own courts. If your entity is DIFC or ADGM, the MOHRE complaint route described here is not your route.

How to Claim, Step by Step

1. Reconstruct the number. Period by period, what was earned, what was paid, what is outstanding. Attach the source for each line.
2. Request it in writing. A dated email to your manager and to HR, stating the amount and asking for payment or a written explanation of the calculation. Their reply is evidence either way.
3. Check the limitation position. Labour claims are subject to a limitation period — commonly cited as two years from the date the entitlement arose — but the exact period and its starting point should be confirmed with MOHRE on 600 590000 or with a qualified UAE labour lawyer rather than assumed.
4. File with MOHRE. Via the app, website, call centre or a Tasheel centre, with your Emirates ID, contract, payslips and evidence bundle. MOHRE aims to resolve within 14 working days.
5. Put it in a formal letter. Our MOHRE complaint letter generator (AED 99) produces a bilingual English and Arabic letter that sets out the scheme, the calculation and the amount claimed in the structure mediators expect — which is exactly the presentation that keeps a variable-pay claim from being waved through to court.
6. Check what your contract actually promised. If you are unsure whether your scheme is contractual or discretionary, our employment contract scanner (AED 149) will read the clause and tell you which it is, along with anything else in the document that affects your claim.

For a quick sense-check on whether your situation is worth filing at all, ask our AI Employment Rights Assistant before you spend anything.

Related Resources

• Employer Not Paying Salary in the UAE? Your Rights and Steps
• Offer Letter vs Contract in the UAE: Which One Counts?
• UAE Final Settlement After Termination: What You Are Owed
• How to File a Labour Complaint With MOHRE