A reader from Abu Dhabi asks: According to the law, working hours are limited to 48 hours a week, and there is an exception for commercial establishments, security services, hotels and so forth to work nine hours a day and 56 hours a week. How do we split these hours of work? In an eight hour or nine hour shift, is a one-hour break included or excluded? Does the break include toilet breaks, food breaks or prayer breaks? In the security industry, this is not possible, as the employee has to be available at his post a full nine hours. Kindly advise how to address this issue.

We would like to direct the questioner to Articles (66 to 67) of the UAE Labour Law which states the following: Article 66 says "the daily hours of work shall be so arranged that no worker works for more than five consecutive hours without breaks for rest, meals and prayer amounting in aggregate to no less than one hour. Such breaks shall not be reckoned towards the hours of work. In factories and workshops where work is organised in the form of successive day and night shifts or in operations where continuous work is necessary for technical and economic reasons, the manner in which breaks for rest, meals and prayer are to be granted shall be arranged by an order of the Minister."

Article 67 says "where the circumstances of the work require a worker to work more than the normal number of hours any period worked in excess shall be treated as overtime, for which the worker shall receive remuneration equal to that corresponding to his normal hours of work, plus a supplement of at least 25 per cent of the remuneration."

Questions answered by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Bahar Advocates and Legal Consultants