Ministry of Labor, UAE has announced a set of new Labor Laws, to come in effect from January 1, 2016. Ministerial Decrees 764, 765 and … Read more
Saqr Gobash, the Minister of Labour, has recently stated that the number of foreign workers in the UAE stood at 3.8 million in 2010. Out of the total only 266,000 had University education while 2 million have no qualifications whatsoever.
The expat-dominated UAE population was estimated to have grown to around 8.2 million by the end of 2010, with UAE nationals making only 11.47 per cent.
According to Saqr Ghobash, UAE is aiming to reduce the number of unskilled foreign workers.
Students on university sponsorship can now legally work part-time upon receiving a permit from the Ministry of Labour under a new decree issued as part of the UAE Labour Law.
The new part-time work permit regulation went into effect this year and is aimed at protecting student rights to stop employers exploiting them, said a ministry official.
It was previously illegal for students above the age of 18 on university sponsorship to take up work unless they transferred their sponsorship to their employer.
The new part-time work permit decree was issued along with the teenage work permit that allows those aged 15 to 18 to take up work within stringent guidelines.
Nevertheless, before the introduction of the permit some students on university and parental/guardian sponsorship still took up part-time work through temporary promotional jobs that paid cash.
The part-time work permit applies to four categories of persons:
1. Resident workers in full-time employment holding a valid labour card
2. Co-dependent sponsored residents i.e: housewives on their husband’s sponsorship
3. Residents aged 18 and above
4. Government employees
Those issued with a part-time work permit are not limited to the number of part-time jobs they can take up.
The government can issue a part-time work permit despite the objection of a full-time employer and an individual’s residency status if there is a labour case raised at the courts through the labour ministry.
In a bid to further tighten the Emiratization policy, Ministry of Labor has clarified hat it will not deal with large companies that don’t have UAE nationals as their representatives.
Humaid bin Deemas, executive secretary of the ministry said that The ministry would also ensure that the Emirati representative is genuine, and not employed to meet the requirements.
As per the rule, any company with more than 100 workers must have an Emirati representative. [PRO]
Any attempt to present an Emirati, who is not on the company’s rolls, would attract 100 black points and penalty of Dh20,000.
Similar action will also apply to companies that indulge in human trafficking or employing illegals.
Companies that do not follow the Wage Protection System to transfer workers’ salaries, as instructed by the ministry, would also be dealt with seriously.
Insisting that companies that do not issue labour cards for workers will be fined, the ministry has recently slapped a fine of Dh1,000 on a violator.
The official said there would be no let in penalising companies that fail to follow the requirement since the grace period allowed ended on December 31, 2010.
Fines of Dh1,000 for each month of non-renewal is now being applied for each month that passes.
From: Emirates 24|7
Expatriates in the UAE have been given an additional five years of service with the Ministry of Labor revising the retirement age from 60 to 65.
The ministry had last week announced the decision to reduce the validity of labor cards to two years from three, starting from January 1, 2011. This practically gives expat workers the freedom to switch jobs without a no-ojection certificate (NoC) from the employer.
On one hand Residency Visas and Labor Card have been reduced to two years from 2011, while on the other retirement age is increased by 5 years. Has it been done to reduce influx of new expats?
As part of restructuring the Labor Laws in UAE, the Ministry of Labor has announced a set of parameters classifying private companies into categories besides setting up a fee structure for processing labor permits and related services.
According to the news report, Minister of Labor Saqr Ghobash has classified the companies on the basis of:
– rates of Emiratization they have achieved
– how multi-cultural they are, and
– what housing facilities they provide to workers
All new companies will have to pay Dh2,000 for registering with the Ministry of Labor, while another Dh250 need to paid for securing a digital signature to be used while processing all labor-related papers.
Private companies that employ non-Emirati representatives (PRO) will be charged Dh2,000 for every two years while Dh200 will be charged for re-issuing a lost or damaged PRO card.
The two-year labor cards of expatriate workers under sponsorship of any family member will cost Dh200.
In the fee schedule for the second category of the workers as listed in the revised list, the fees has been fixed at Dh600 (A), Dh1,500 (B), and Dh2,000 (C) while the fee will be Dh5,000 for the third category meant for expatriate workers over the age of 65.
The ministry has imposed a fee of Dh100 for temporary work permits to allow minors to be employed at any facility. The fee will be Dh500 for one year’s work permit.
The ministry has also set a fee of Dh300 for each case of transfer that includes a new work permit from one company to another.
To avail of the facility to import labor, a company should have paid fee of Dh10,000 with an annual renewal fee of Dh5,000.
Companies that do not get labor card for its foreign workers even after the 60 days from their date of entry into the country, will attract fines of Dh1,000 for every month or part thereof.
The article 2 of the ministerial decree No 26 of 2010 says companies will be exempted from paying such fees for the Emiratis they hire.
These updates, including the recent work permit rules, may going to put large dents in private companies purses. Business, in UAE, will never be the same.
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