Abu Dhabi: Workers will be able to lodge their complaints over unpaid salaries online or through the labour ministry's portal from Friday, a senior official said Wednesday.

"Workers whose employers delay their payment for 15 days or more can file their complaints online at www.mol.gov.ae or through calling the hotline 800665," Humaid Bin Deemas said, acting general manager of the ministry.

He said the new initiative dubbed "My Salary" marks the International Workers Day and is a message of gratitude to the UAE's workers - the country's development stakeholders.

Workers, Bin Deemas said, can file their complaints through the hotline offering 12 languages including Arabic, English, French, Hindi, Farsi, Russian and Urdu, while the portal is only offer Arabic and English.

He assured workers that the ministry will keep their complaints strictly confidential and that nobody, especially the employer will know who filed the complaint.

"Once the ministry receives the complaint, a short message [SMS] will be sent to an inspector, who will call the worker and gather information. This way we can fast-track the handling of complaints and know the [of] employers who fail to pay their workers regularly and on time," Bin Deemas said.

The hotline works from 7 am to 11pm, six days a week, while the portal operates round-the-clock.

The initiative follows another service allowing workers to demand a copy of their job contract from the ministry to know their duties and obligations under it.

Bin Deemas stressed that for the UAE, respect for workers' rights is a moral, cultural and economic imperative.


Your comments


I am very greatful to Ministry of Labour that they implemented this programme, it will be useful to the workers who experience difficulties with their company.
Teo
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 13:59

Great step forward. But what about housemaids? are they included?
Saad Jasem
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 13:58

Excellent step taken by Labour Ministry. Hope this will ensure less exploitation by both big and small companies. Good measure to secure the workers rights.
Bijita Mahanta
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 13:54

This is good move, I've been here for more than 10 years and this delay of salary is very common in the private sector. I Hope this practice of delaying salaries will be put to an end.
Alex
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 13:41

What if the employer himself wasn't paid from the client, which is delaying the payments. They should also provide a hotline for these issues.
Mohammad
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 13:32

This is a very good service especially for workers who are being taken advantage of.
Lyndon Carlos
Dubai,Philippines
Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:54

Thank you very much.. Its about time we give recognition to one of the major building blocks of UAE.. I hope there's more to come cheers mates!
John
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 10:30

Altough this is a good policy, but there must be a policy for employees for cancelaion .
Bilal Mirza
Dubai,UAE
Posted: April 30, 2009, 10:30