UAE | Employment
Midday break: Companies can start early to compensate for time lost
The Labour Law does not ban companies from starting early to make up for time lost during the midday break, said a ministry official.
- By Mohammad Shamseddine, Staff Reporter
- Published: 19:14 July 2, 2007
- Workers at a construction site wait for a bus to take them to their accommodation during the midday break.
- Image Credit: Megan Hirons/ Gulf News
Abu Dhabi: The Labour Law does not ban companies from starting early to make up for time lost during the midday break, said a ministry official.
"The law does not prevent companies from making workers start earlier to compensate for the midday break," said Obaid Rashid Al Zahmi, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour.
"There's no problem in their working earlier because they have to work their eight-hour shift," he said.
The ministry on Sunday implemented the midday break under which workers rest from 12.30 to 3pm during July and August.
Workers felt the two and a half hour break is 'their right' and they do not have to start earlier to compensate for the lost time.
Akbar Gul Khan, a construction worker from Pakistan, said if his company made him work earlier, he has no choice. "Since it is summer and the law says we have to rest at midday then we have to rest. I don't see a reason why they make us work earlier to make up for the lost time. If I am forced to do so, then I have no other choice," he said.
Another worker, M.K. Singh, told Gulf News it does not make sense to work earlier. "If we have to rest at midday then why do we need to work earlier? This is summer and the weather is hot even in the morning. I think we should not work earlier," he said.
Al Zahmi, along with Saleh Al Junaibi, director of the establishments unit at the ministry, received about 20 people on the open day at the ministry. A woman who had been reported as absconding asked that the ban be removed. The assistant undersecretary referred her to the work relations department.
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