UAE Labor Law and Relations

The paper discusses the leave prerogatives as per UAE labor law that includes annual leave, sick leave, official holidays, and maternity leave. It covers the entitlements of employees in the UAE and the laws that regulate the employment sector. The Ministry of Labor in UAE has been in the front line in implementing laws that govern the employment sector including undertaking reforms on these laws to boost their efficiency.

Running Head: UAE LABOR LAW AND RELATIONS
UAE Labor Law and Relations
Name
Institution

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UAE Labor Law and Relations
Introduction
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has labor laws that are seen to regulate the employment
sector where the employers are required to comply with the labor laws. Full-time workers in
United Arab Emirates are permitted to go for leave, as well as holidays based on the labor laws
of the nation that extensively include annual leave, sick, as well as maternity leave. Nonetheless,
the organization of holidays, plus the array vary for public in addition to private sector. The labor
laws have been crafted to ensure that the employees get the needed leaves and holidays (Kapur,
2012). The paper will discuss eave prerogatives as per UAE labor law that includes annual leave,
sick leave, official holidays, and maternity leave.
Annual Leave
Article 75 defines the annual leave in UAE where a worker should be granted an annual
leave during each year of services that cannot be less than two days for every worker with over
six months and less than one year in employment and thirty days annually for every worker who
duration of employment is more than one year. At the conclusion of the employment, the worker
in UAE is entitled to an annual leave for the fraction of the past year they have been in the
employment. Annual leave accrues at 2.5 days on monthly basis following the completion of one
year in employment (Mehta, 2017). The leave for the employee is calculated per calendar days.
Nonetheless, employers in UAE provide that the annual leave is counted against actual work
days, that is, weekend days are not counted or included in the number of the days the employee
is on leave. The labor law in Australia allows the employer to take annual leave after finishing

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one year in employment or service. The annual leave can be divided by the company or
employer in two-week durations. Unless work situations need the worker to work in the planned
annual leave, the worker is needed to take 30 days of annual leave after completing 12 months in
employment. In addition, it is not lawful for worker to “save up” annual leave foe two years only
since the worker needs a two-moth holiday. For example, the employee can decide not to go for
annual leave and the following he/she will two months (Kapur, 2012).
Official Holidays
In United Arab Emirates the labor law recognizes Friday as the official weekend for all
the employees, except those employees for everyday wages. If situations need a worker to work
extra time on that specific day, the employee would be permitted for normal hours of working
pay, and an augment of more than 50 percent of that amount to be paid. The employee should be
offered another day that the employee will rest with a wage equivalent to 150 percent of the
normal salary scale for the specific day if it falls on official holiday provided under Article 74
(Millington, Holland & Burnett, 2015). Also, if the worker is not offered another day that the
worker will rest, the salary will be 250 percent of the basic salary based on the provisions of the
Article 81 of the UAE Labor Law. In addition, employees in UAE are granted paid leave on the
subsequent public holidays: Gregorian New Year (one day), Hijri New Year (one day), Eid Al
Ftr (two days), Waqfa day and Eid Al Adha (three 3 days), Prophet Mohammed's birthday (one
day), Isra and Miraj or the Ascension Day (one day), Martyr's Day (1 day) and National Day
(one day) (Mehta, 2018).
Sick Leave

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Upon completing the probationary duration, and finishing 6 months following the
probationary time, the employee is granted 90 days of sick leave. The employee will be entitled
to a primary sick leave payment of fifteen days on full payment that can be used overall at one
time or a only some days at a given time all through the year. The employees are granted an
additional 30 days leave of nonattendance based on illness on half pay (Cherian, 2018). In
addition, if the worker has not fully recovered an additional 45 days of sick leave with no pays.
Under the UAE labor laws; there exist two vital points to consider: (a) any workers who are
absence from job for more than a day due to disease, they need to produce physician’s certificate
validating the worker’s grounds for the absence from the on medical reasons and (b) no worker
may be terminated whilst on sick leave. Public servant are granted basic leave allowance of 15
working days annually that is different to the private segment can only be taken in duration of
five days at a given period (In Keall, 2012).
Maternity Leave
In UAE, female worker (who has finished one year of incessant service with the
employer) is allowed 45 days with full pay, comprising pre and postnatal periods. In situations
where the worker has not finished the one complete year of employment, the employee is entitled
to maternity leave with half pay. For example, if the worker has worked for less than 12 months
of nonstop service are granted 45 calendar days’ leave at half pay (Augsburg, Claus & Randeree,
2009). The employee who have exhausted all the maternity leave can be not present with no pay
for a greatest of 100 successive or non-successive days in which a medical certificate is issued
validating her disease has stopped her from coming to work and the disease due to her
pregnancy. In UAE, it is within the law for the employee to combine leaves if the worker fulfills

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the criteria for the particular leave being requested and the manager endorses the requested leave
(Za’za, 2018).
Conclusion
The Ministry of Labor in UAE has been in the front line in implementing laws that
govern the employment sector including undertaking reforms on these laws to boost their
efficiency. UAE has experienced drastic improvement in the labor laws that have seen both the
private and public sector provided the necessary environment of implementing these labor laws
to the benefit of the employees.

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References
Augsburg, K., Claus, I. A., & Randeree, K. (2009). Leadership and the Emirati woman:
Breaking the glass ceiling in the Arabian Gulf. Münster: Lit.
Cherian, D. (2018). UAE Labour Law: 8 things you need to know about sick leave. Gulf News.
[Accessed 31.10.2018].
In Keall, S. (2012). Employment & labour law: Jurisdictional comparisons. London : Thomson
Reuters.
Kapur, S. (2012). What are the leave and holiday entitlements for UAE employees?
Emirates247. [Accessed 31.10.2018].
Mehta, A. (2017). 30 days leave only after completion of one year. Khaleej Times. [Accessed
31.10.2018].
Mehta, A. (2018). Working on a holiday? Employees to be paid 150% of salary. Khaleej Times.
[Accessed 31.10.2018].
Millington, P., Holland, J. A., & Burnett, S. (2015). Employment law. Oxford : Oxford
University Press.
Za’za, B. (2018). Employers obligated to grant maternity leave. Gulf News. [Accessed
31.10.2018].

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