Dubai: The Ministry of Labour announced that 6,000 employees from 3,800 firms benefited from the fine settlement grace period after settling their labour card fines during the first 15 days of the implementation of the Cabinet’s grace period decision.

Humaid Bin Deemas, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs at the minsitry, said that the decision, which accepts Dh1,000 per fine, has achieved financial savings for those enterprises worth Dh64 million, as firms paid only Dh6 million as opposed to the amount due of Dh70 million.

This came on the sidelines of a meeting held on Monday at the ministry’s office in Dubai, which was chaired by Bin Deemas in the presence of managers from different sectors to review the results of the settlement’s decision over the past two weeks.

He pointed out that around 95,000 fines were issued against 40,000 companies for not renewing workers’ labour cards and 5,000 had been fined for entering the country without applying for new labour cards or for not cancelling their work permits, or for reporting those missing from duty.

He revealed that fines have reached a total amount of Dh2.85 billion which will now come to around Dh100 million after the application of the decision.

“We discussed during the meeting follow-up procedures with regard to the implementation of the fine settlement grace period, emphasising the need to form special teams that work closely with the Departments of Residency and Foreign Affairs and the Department of Economic Development to mark non-complying facilities and urge owners to take advantage of the grace period,” Bin Deemas said.

He called upon all employers to take advantage of the grace period and speed up the payments of those fines during the months of January and February in order to avoid the Dh500 fine per month for delay, stipulated by the decision following the deadline of the first two-month notice period, which will be applied after March 5 and increase by Dh500 monthly.

The ministry will also begin implementing new administrative fines, which were approved recently by the Cabinet, including a Dh500 fine for not signing an electronic agreement with the employees within a 60-day period from their arrival in the country or the amendment of their residency status.

Furthermore, a Dh500 fine will be issued against firms that do not apply or renew electronic labour cards within a period of 60 days from the date of signing a contract or its expiry with effect from March 5.

He advised company owners to properly check the electronic labour permits conditions regularly through the ‘e-netwasal service by visiting the ministry’s website or through the ministry’s mobile app which can be found in Apple store, Google Play and BlackBerry World in both Arabic and English.

Employers could also make use of the Tasheel service centres located across the UAE or the labour offices to check up on fines issued against their firms, and taking advantage of the given grace period to settle fines as soon as possible.