Companies may opt to keep secretaries
Companies may get option to keep secretaries by paying Dh60,000 fee
Dubai: The Ministry of Labour has submitted a memorandum to the Cabinet proposing that companies which do not wish to replace expatriate secretaries with UAE nationals can opt to pay a Dh60,000 yearly fee.
The memorandum proposes that companies that wish to keep their expatriates secretaries can pay an equivalent salary amount to the National Human Resources and Employment Authority (Tanmia) to train UAE nationals on their behalf, said Dr Ali Bin Abdullah Al Ka'abi, Minister of Labour, yesterday at a press conference.
"Companies that wish to keep their expatriate will have to pay an equivalent salary which the ministry calculated will be an average of Dh5,000 each month to Tanmia to provide UAE nationals with training," said Dr Al Ka'abi.
A ministerial decision which came into effect on June 24 requires all secretarial positions to be emiratised. The rule applies to companies that have more than 50 employees and companies can be exempted from this rule depending on the nature of the business, their working environment and their location.
The ministry of labour is planning to achieve emiratisation through the employment and training of UAE nationals, said Dr Al Ka'abi.
"There is a new approach in the ministry's emiratisation mechanism. The process of emiratisation has to come both vertically, which is developing the skills of the UAE nationals, and horizontally, which is through providing work opportunities for nationals," he said.
"There are 600,000 jobs created yearly and only 33,0000 unemployed UAE nationals."
