I have been working in a company for four months under the six-month probation period as per my offer letter. I am under my husband’s sponsorship. As per the UAE Labour Law, does a woman employee, who is under the probation period and under her husband’s sponsorship, have the right to take maternity leave? What is the maximum period of maternity leave allowed and will that be a paid leave?
Article 30 of Federal Law No (8) of 1980 mentions the following: “A female worker shall be entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of 45 days, including the period preceding and the period following her confinement, on condition that she has been in her employer’s service for a continuous period of not less than one year. If she has not completed the aforesaid period of service, she shall be entitled to maternity leave with half pay.
“On the expiry of her maternity leave, a female worker may be absent from her work without pay for a maximum period of 100 consecutive or no-consecutive days if such absence is due to an illness preventing her from resuming her work and if the illness is confirmed by a medical certificate issued by the medical service specified by the competent health authority or if the latter authority confirms that the illness was caused by the women’s work or confinement.
“The leave provided for in the preceding two paragraphs shall not be deducted from other periods of leave.”
As per the above-mentioned article, the woman employee has the right to take half-pay maternity leave during the probation period since she has not completed one year in service. It does not matter whether the woman employee is under the company’s sponsorship or her husband’s.
Changing the contract
I have worked in a company for almost two years under a limited period contract, which is going to expire in January 2018. Am I entitled to renew the contract, but for an unlimited period? As per my employer, he wants me to continue under the limited period contract. Secondly, my company cuts bank transfer charges from our salary. As per the UAE Labour Law, is the employee entitled to choose the bank to which he/she wants the salary be transferred? Is the employee obliged to pay the transfer charges or shall the same be borne by the employer?
I would like to clarify to the questioner that Article 40 of Federal Law No. (8) of 1980 states the following: “Where the two parties continue to perform the contract without an expressed agreement, after the expiry of its initial period or after the completion of the work agreed upon, the original contract shall be deemed to have been tacitly extended on the same conditions as those already contained therein, other than the duration (of that contract).”
Therefore, after the expiry of a limited labour contract, the employee has the right at the time of renewal to choose the type of contract, limited or unlimited, under which he/she wants to continue.
As to the salary transfer, as per the law, the employee has the right to choose the bank to which he/she wants the salary be transferred and the employer is responsible for paying the bank transfer charges.
— Questions are answered by lawyer Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants
