I joined a company in April 2018. My probation period is stated to be eight months as per the internal contract signed with the company. As per the UAE Labour Law, does a woman employee have the right to take maternity leave during the probation period and what is the maximum number of days of such leave allowed? Is it a paid leave? In my internal contract, it is mentioned that the woman employee is not entitled to the maternity leave during probation, and that she will be entitled to maternity leave only after six months from the date of the expiration of the probation period. Otherwise, the leave will be considered as unpaid. Besides, is the maternity leave period included while calculating the end-of-service rights as per the UAE Labour Law? According to my employer, maternity leave will not be included.
I would like to clarify to the questioner that 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 mentioned above shall not be deducted from other periods of leave.” As per the above-mentioned article, the questioner has the right to take half-pay maternity leave during probation. The clause in the internal contract which mentions that the questioner has no right to apply for maternity leave till six months’ service is completed after the probation period expires is against the labour law. Finally, the maternity leave, as per the UAE Labour Law, is included while calculating the end-of-service rights.
General assembly norms
I am a manager and partner in a limited liability company (LLC). As per the UAE company law, do I need to record all the minutes of the meeting of the General Assembly and keep them as a record in the company? Does any of the partners in the company have the right to inspect the minutes of the General Assembly meeting and the balance sheet to check the profit and loss of the company?
Article 100 of the UAE company law titled ‘Register of the meetings of the General Assembly’ states: Minutes accurately summarising all discussions in the General Assembly shall be drawn; the minutes and decisions shall be recorded in a special register to be kept at the head office of the company. Any partner may inspect the minutes in person or by proxy and may also inspect the balance sheet, the profit and loss account and the annual report.
— Questions answered by lawyer Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants
