It's either short leave or no pay

Dubai: Female teachers claim that many private schools are violating the 45-day maternity leave clause in the labour law.

While some teachers are reportedly allowed only one or two weeks maternity leave, others are given the options to stay away for a longer period of 25 days but without salary.

In both cases the teachers suffer as they either return for work without adequate rest and recovery from the delivery or they are forced to quit.

Gulf News investigations found that the practice is more common in the middle- and low-range schools where teachers are already on low salaries and cannot afford to stay a longer period of time without an income, therefore many go back to work.

The practice also exists in the more expensive schools and in some cases, depending on their economic situation, teachers decide to give up the job rather than going back.

A teacher who worked for an international school said that she had to give up her job as she could not accept being forced to return to work just a week after the delivery.

"The school management told me that the maternity leave as per the labour law is a week, but I was not convinced so I went to the education zone and got to know that it is 45 days. I went back to the school and told them but they threatened that they will not renew my contract if I took 45 days," she said.

Many teachers said that losing their jobs was not an option as their economic situation was bad. Therefore they returned to work after the delivery as per the schools' demands.

"I had to go back to work just 10 days after the delivery because I needed the money although I was still in pain and my feet were swollen," said a teacher.

Humaid Bin Deemas, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour, said the law was clear on the issue and anybody who is working under such conditions should file a complaint at the ministry.

"I call upon all those who are subjected to ill-treatment at their workplaces to inform the ministry of these practices.

"I can understand if uneducated workers decide to give up their rights due to ignorance, but I cannot justify teachers, who are supposed to spread awareness and educate the next generation, to be ignorant of their rights and give them up easily," Bin Deemas said.

But a teacher said, "I cannot file a case at neither the Ministry of Labour nor Ministry of Education as I simply cannot afford to stay without a job. It would be better if the ministry were to do more routine inspections or at least allowed us to file an anonymous case."

Leila Baker, Director of Arabic and Foreign Private Schools Department at Dubai Education Zone, said that they have not received any complaints on the issue.

Women eligible for 45 days' paid leave

Female employees are eligible for 45 days paid maternity leave if they have been working for the same employer for a year, and for half-pay leave for the same period if the employment period is less than a year, according to the labour and the private education laws.