UAE | Employment
Labour ministry reviews six-month work ban rule
The Ministry of Labour is reviewing the six-month work ban, enforced when a person cancels work permit, to facilitate labour movements within the country, an official said.
- By Wafa Issa, Staff Reporter
- Published: 16:32 March 1, 2009
- Image Credit: Gulf News
- Currently, the ministry enforces a six-month ban on working in the country if the worker who cancels his permit does not have a no-objection certificate from his employer.
Dubai: The Ministry of Labour is reviewing the six-month work ban, enforced when a person cancels work permit, to facilitate labour movements within the country, an official said.
Abdul Razzaq Qambar, training officer at the ministry's inspection department, said during a seminar on wages, aimed at raising awareness on workers' rights, that a review of the six-month ban was on the table.
"The ministry is studying different means to facilitate labour movement within the country and the reviewing of the ban is part of this," said Qambar.
However, no time frame was given.
Jasem Al Banna, head of the legal affairs department at the ministry, said during the seminar that people had the right to progress in their career and they should not be prevented from doing so.
Currently, the ministry enforces a six-month ban on working in the country if the worker who cancels his permit does not have a no-objection certificate from his employer.
The ban does not apply if the person has been working in the company for more than three years. The seminar outlined the six major violations committed by companies hit by the global economic downturn.
During the past four months, the ministry has seen an increase in cases where employees have not been paid in more than a month, cases where salaries have been reduced without workers' consent.
There have been instances where companies have kept workers in labour accommodations without anything to do
However, no statistics were revealed on the number of these violations.
Qambar said that reduction of salaries, better known as "repackaging" of salaries, is a new trend in the country, which started with the global financial meltdown.
However, Al Banna said: "It is illegal to reduce the salary of a worker unless a new contract with the new amount is issued.
"This can only be done after the worker receives his end of service benefits."
Fact file: Major violations
Six major violations committed by companies across the country since the global economic downturn:
- Increase in cases where workers have not been paid for more than a month.
- Reducing workers' salaries without their consent.
- Not giving any tasks to workers and keeping them in labour accommodations while stopping payment of their salaries or reducing them. Reducing daily meals.
- Not giving end of service benefits and compensation for workers when cancelling their work permits.
- Increase in the number of companies that house workers on construction sites.
- Overcrowding labour accommodations to reduce costs.
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