Dubai: The Ministry of Labour has given a six-month grace period to violating companies and employers to rectify their status and settle fines which were accumulated as they failed to issue or renew labour cards for their employees.
Employers who failed to issue or renew electronic Labour cards “Plastic Labour Cards’ for their employees will have to pay a maximum of Dh1,000 for each labour card labour cards that has not been issued or renewed until the end of this December.
The move is in line with the resolution issued earlier by the Cabinet. The grace period of six months spans January 4 to June 30, 2015.
“Electronic labour card offences have all been dropped to Dh1,000 only per employee,” Humaid Bin Deemas Al Suwaidi, Assistant Undersecretary of Labour Affairs at the ministry, said during a press conference held at the ministry on Sunday.
“The exemption includes electronic labour cards that have not been issued or renewed until the end of this current month which amount to 100,000 electronic cards from 40,000 companies, marking 13 per cent of the total registered firms in the ministry,” he said.
He pointed out that about 95,000 fines were issued for not renewing worker’s cards and 5,000 have been fined for entering the country and their employers have not yet applied to issue them new labour cards or for not cancelling their work permits, or reported missing from duty.
He revealed that fines have reached a total amount of Dh2.85 billion which will be reduced to Dh100 million as per the grace period given to employers for settlement.
“This confirms the government’s keenness to support employers and motivate them to settle those fines, which is a tool used by the ministry to control and regulate the labour market and provide protection to the workers,” Bin Deemas added.
He explained that there are thousands of cards, of which some have fines reaching Dh53,000. “Now that large fines have been reduced to only a Dh1,000, it is an opportunity for all employers and business owners to settle those fines and remove any sorts of restrictions in their records at the ministry,” Humaid said.
Furthermore, offenders during the grace period, will be stopped from obtaining all kinds of labour permits until they settle all the above mentioned fines. “Starting July 2015 employers will be asked to pay the Dh1,000 fine per card in addition to another Dh500 for each month of delay,” Bin Deemas pointed.
Employment contract fines
Al Suwaidi stated that the Ministry of Labour, starting from January 4, 2015, will fine employers “Dh500 per month if they fail to provide employment contracts to the ministry within a 60-day period starting from the entry of the employee into the country.”
He explained that this decision represents the keenness of the UAE to protect labourers’ rights and ensure c a stable relationship between employer and employee with full transparency.
He said that the period of 60 days is sufficient for the employer to sign a contract with his new employee through Tas’heel service centres to properly document this and any excuses of delay are not accepted.
He announced that there is coordination between the ministries of labour and Interior to not issue a visa unless the employer signs that agreement during the specified period.
