Gratuity When Transferred Within the Same Company Group: Does Your Service Reset?
Your company has told you they're transferring you to a "sister company" or another entity within the same group — same building, maybe even the same manager, just a different trade license or legal entity technically employing you. It sounds like a formality, but it raises a real question: does your gratuity clock reset, or does your service carry over as if nothing changed? This is a surprisingly common scenario in the UAE, especially among large corporate groups, and the answer isn't always obvious. Why This Situation Is Different From a Normal Job Change Under standard UAE labour law, gratuity is tied to your employment contract with a specific legal entity. When you resign from one company and join a completely unrelated employer, your gratuity is settled and your service clock restarts from zero with the new company. But an internal group transfer is different in practice, even if it isn't always different in strict legal terms — you're often doing th...