UAE Labour Law - Gratuity Calculation

As per Article (132) of the UAE Federal Labour Law, and in respect to the end-of-service gratuity we quote the following: A worker who has completed a period of one or more years of continuous service shall be entitled to severance pay on the termination of his employment. The days of absence from work without pay shall not be included in calculating the period of service. The severance pay shall be calculated as follows: 21 days' remuneration for each year of the first five years of service. Thirty days' remuneration for each additional year of service provided that the aggregate amount of severance pay shall not exceed two years' remuneration.

UAE work visas- the grace period for cancelled visa may be extended

Individuals whose work visas have been cancelled, following redundancy, may soon be able to stay in the UAE for a longer period of time to find work, according to a report in Emirates Business.At present, UAE labour and immigration laws require expats who have lost their jobs, to find work within one month - or leave.The newspaper quoted Hani Rashid Al Hamli, Dubai Economic Council (DEC) Secretary-General, who said Dubai, along with the federal government, is "working on" stretching the grace period for holders of cancelled visas. The length of the likely extension wasn’t given.

The report added that the new policy, which may be announced in the first half of this year, is expected to address the potential cases of job cuts due to the financial crisis. "This is one of the top and urgent issues that we are tackling at the Dubai branch and at the federal level - to have a longer (grace) period. They are working on that, I can assure you of that," Al Hamli told the newspaper. Al Hamli, when asked whether the new policy would take affect in the second half of the year, indicated it would be earlier than that, perhaps in one month or two months, although he couldn’t go into specifics due to the government having to upgrade the immigration laws, which will take a measure of time

The six-month labour ban in Dubai may be revised or scrapped

The six-month labour ban in Dubai may be revised or scrapped altogether, a senior official said. The move comes in the wake of thousands of expatriates losing their jobs in Dubai due to tough economic conditions.Abdul Razaq Qamber, training head at the Inspection Department at the Ministry of Labour (MoL), said the ministry is set to revise a ministerial decision imposing a six-month ban on expatriate workers, XPRESS reported.Employees working outside the free zones and who resign or lose their jobs are automatically slapped a six month ban, preventing them from moving from one company to another.Qambar was speaking during a discussion on workers’ wages held on Sunday at the Ministry of Labour in Dubai.