UAE Labour Law

In the current ever-evolving bustling era, the landscape of the United Arab Emirates labour laws serves as a critical foundation for ensuring the rights of both employees and employers. The United Arab Emirates labour laws are primarily governed by the Federal Decree-law No 33/2021 On Regulation of Labour Relations as amended (the “Labour Law”) and encompass a detailed framework that encounters numerous factors related to employment.

Leaves

Article 29 of the Labour Law deals with leaves and obliges employers to grant leaves on all national holidays, annual leaves, sick leaves, religious events, and special Islamic days. Additionally, Article 29(1a) entails that leave of 30 days each year for those employees whose services outstrip one year must be granted along with full pay.  However, Article 29(4) also gave the employer the right to decide or to choose the commencement of employee annual leave based on the workflow, and all public holidays during the leave period should also be included as per Article 29(7) of the Labour Law. Moreover, during the probation period, the employee is not entitled to receive any paid sick leave as per Article 31 (2). However, after that period, the employee is entitled to receive sick leave of not more than 90 days as per Article 31(3). Additionally, according to Article 31, 3(a,b,c), a sick leave received by an employee will be paid following the criteria of the first 15 days of full pay, following thirty days in half, while the remaining would be without any pay. In addition, Article 31(4) also discusses the right to enjoy paid sick leave only in case sickness does not result from their misbehavior.

In case an employee fails to rejoin the workplace after his/her leave, as discussed above ends, the employer can terminate that employee under the labor law Article 31 (5) of the Labour Law. Furthermore, Article 32 grants employees the right to 5 days paid leave in case of the death of a spouse and three days paid leave in case of the death of a parent, grandparent, or sibling commencing from the death date.

Maternity leave

For the female employees, Article 30(1a, 1b) gave a right of maternity leave of two months. However, the Labour Law also entails that the first 45 days of this leave will be paid fully, while the remaining 15 days will be paid in half. Moreover, after two months of maternity leave, if a female worker is still in ill health resulting from pregnancy, she has the right to 45 days of unpaid leave subject to providing an authentic medical certificate from the respective authority Article 30(2). In addition to this, female employees who are expected mothers have the right to request maternity leave before the expected delivery month, subject to a medical certificate. This will have no impact on her entitlement to other leaves Article 30(2).

To conclude, understanding the Labour Law is vital for ensuring a productive and balanced working landscape. Familiarizing yourself with the articles discussed above can help in navigating the complexities of the UAE working environment, both for employees and employers.

Written by: Reem Obaid 

rog@adglegal.com