The short version
Four mistakes recur: calculating contributions on total salary instead of basic salary, failing to deal properly with gratuity accrued before February 2020, missing the 14 day final payment deadline, and assuming an offshore group pension satisfies the requirement without a Certificate of Compliance.
Contributions are on basic salary
The core contribution is 5.83 per cent of monthly basic salary for employees with under five years of service and 8.33 per cent for those at five years or more. Basic salary, not gross, and not gross less housing.
Employers who calculate on the wrong base usually do so consistently for years, so when it is discovered the correction covers the whole period for every employee. It is a bookkeeping error with a compounding cost.
Pre-February 2020 gratuity did not vanish
End of service gratuity stopped accruing when DEWS started. What had already accrued was crystallised at that date and remains payable, either transferred into DEWS or held by the employer and paid on termination.
Long-serving employees are the ones who challenge settlements, and they are right to, because the crystallised amount is frequently either forgotten or miscalculated. Any employee who joined before February 2020 should have a documented figure.
The 14 day rule does not pause for arguments
Everything owed on termination is payable within 14 days. Miss it and a penalty accrues at the employee's daily wage for every day of delay, uncapped, and the DIFC Courts apply it as a matter of course.
Employers who dispute a bonus or a commission often hold the entire final payment while they resolve it. That is the single most expensive mistake in DIFC employment practice. Pay the undisputed amount within the window and argue about the rest separately.
Alternative schemes need a certificate
Employers can use a qualifying alternative scheme instead of DEWS, but it requires a Certificate of Compliance from the DIFC. A group pension arrangement run from London or Singapore does not qualify simply because it exists and is generous.
Groups that assumed their existing scheme covered the DIFC entity have had to backfill contributions. Check the certificate rather than the intention.
Questions
Is the DEWS contribution based on gross or basic salary?
Basic salary. 5.83 per cent for employees with under five years of service and 8.33 per cent for five years or more.
Can an employer keep the pre-2020 gratuity instead of transferring it?
The accrued amount can be held by the employer and paid on termination rather than transferred into DEWS, but it remains owed and it has to be calculated correctly.