Dubai: The Ministry of Labour has urged employees, who are obliged to work normal hours during Ramadan without getting overtime payment, to file complaints to the ministry.
Daily work hours have been reduced by two hours during Ramadan as per the UAE Labour Law and the weekly work hours should not exceed 36 hours as against 48 hours in other months. The rule applies to all UAE workers irrespective of their religion.
A spokesman for the ministry told Gulf News that they will investigate any reports of violations. Company that do not comply with the rules are in breach of Federal labour law and face penalties.
“We will investigate any complaint that reaches us, complaints will be handled in a confidential manner. If a complaint is credible, the company will be warned to adhere to the rules.
“In cases of repeated offences, the company will face a penalty as per the labour law,” the spokesman said.
He said the ministry is conducting random inspections.
Some job types, such as hospital staff, are recognised by the ministry as requiring longer work hours.
Under Ramadan work rules, those workers should be granted overtime.
Overtime should be paid at 25 per cent of the employee’s basic salary for day duty and 50 per cent for night duty, according to the guidelines.
A ministry official confirmed they have so far received no complaints from workers.
But some workers do feel their companies are ignoring the rules.
“I recently joined work at a restaurant in Dubai. The manager has given few workers 7 hours duty without overtime,” said a woman who works for a restaurant in Dubai.
The woman, who does not want to be named, said most of her colleagues are working 10 hours every day without overtime.
“Now we know the government’s rules on this are strict, if the company wants us to work more than six hours during Ramadan, they should at least pay us overtime.
Another worker, who did not want to be named, said that if the ministry closely monitored companies, they will be forced to pay overtime or let workers do less hours.
“That will be helpful to the workers and their families,” he said.
