The UAE Announces Changes to Guarantees System for Domestic Workers

In the UAE, domestic workers can now be replaced or the hiring fees fully or partially refunded within the entire period of the two-year recruitment contract, a senior official said.

The guarantee period for domestic workers hired through Tadbeer or other firms has been extended to two years, in keeping with the executive rules of the Domestic Workers’ law, Khalil Ebrahim Khouri, assistant under-secretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation for domestic workers affairs.

Initially, the Domestic Workers Law set six months as a guarantee period, during which an employer can get the hiring fees refunded or a worker replaced. Khouri said licensed firms are now obliged to refund all or part of the hiring fees of domestic workers, as per the remaining period of the contract.

Under the new rules that took effect recently, full hiring fees will be refunded, or the worker is replaced as the employer wishes, during the first six months of the contract (probationary period) in the event of termination of the contract by the worker without a legal reason, quitting work without an acceptable reason, the worker’s lacking fitness or inability to carry out his duties as required and agreed upon.

After the probationary period and up to the end of the recruitment contract, a part of the hiring fees will be refunded if the worker terminates the contract without a legal reason or quits work without an acceptable reason, Khouri said.

The amount refunded will be calculated on the basis of the remaining period of the contract. “For example, if an employer paid to a recruitment firm Dh15,000 as hiring fees and the work quit after 15 months of the two-year contract, the employer has the right to refund Dh5,625 for the remaining nine months of the contract,” Khouri said.

Khouri added recruitment firms are obliged to refund the fees to the employer within a month of the date the employer returns the worker or reports his absence from work.

Khouri explained that in the case of an employer specifically named a domestic worker to be recruited and the recruiting firm so did, no hiring fees will be refunded.

The ministry recently launched its new app Tadbeer, which allows users to access Tadbeer centres’ services and related information around the clock from any location, using smart devices. The app is in line with the ministry’s strategy to facilitate access to its services 24/7 from any location, using smartphone apps. It is also part of the ministry’s commitment to ensuring customer happiness

Traffic fine payments, 7 other services fully online in Dubai

Motorists in Dubai will now have to pay traffic fines and request for instalments online with effect from April 1, 2019, as these services will no longer be provided in person.

Announcing this at a press conference held at the Traffic Department in Dubai Police. Dubai Police said they were among eight public services that will go completely online next month.

The new services that will be provided online include: payment of traffic fines payment, requests for traffic accident reports (where no one is injured), copy of lost traffic accident reports, traffic fine instalments using credit cards, traffic clearance certificates, reports of traffic accidents committed by unknown persons, list of traffic fines and checking of traffic condition.

List of services which will go online by April 1

• Traffic fine payment
• Request for traffic accident report where no one is injured
• Request for copy of lost traffic accident reports
• Payment of traffic fine instalment using credit cards
• Request for a traffic clearance certificate
• Request for a report of a traffic accident committed by an unknown person
• Request for a list of traffic fines
• Checking traffic condition

In the next phase, four services will go exclusively online by July 1. The services include requests for smart impounding of vehicles, fee payment for impounded cars, instalment of traffic fines via cheques and release of impounded vehicles.

Meanwhile, Brigadier Khalid Nasser Al Razooqi, Director of the Artificial Intelligence at Dubai Police, said that 80.6 per cent of customers currently use Dubai Police’s smart services, while 19.4 per cent still goes in person to customer service.

“Our strategy is to encourage people to use smart services. We provided smart police stations and about 1,000 kiosks to pay traffic fines and other services. We have cooperation with banks and money wiring offices to provide a diversity of channels. Our aim is to reduce time and effort and cut costs. Our services are provided in seven languages,” Brig Al Razooqi said.

UAE announces new family sponsorship policy for expats

The UAE Cabinet has adopted a decision to amend provisions of the resolution on sponsoring of foreign workers to their families in the country.

Income sufficient to support their families will be the only requirement for UAE expatriates to sponsor their family members as opposed to the previously listed 'professions', the UAE Cabinet has announced.

As per prevailing requirements, male residents who are employed in the UAE can sponsor their immediate family members such as wife and children if he earns a monthly salary of Dh4,000 or Dh3,000 plus accommodation provided by his company. He also had to be employed in certain categories for him to be eligible to sponsor his family. For example, domestic helpers and certain other categories were not entitled to sponsor their families irrespective of their monthly income.

Similarly, a female resident could sponsor her family only if she was a teacher, engineer or a health professional and earned Dh4,000 per month. If she worked in any other sector, she needed to have a minimum monthly salary of Dh10,000 and special approval from the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs.

With the latest Cabinet announcement, the requirement for residents to have certain professions has been done away with. It was not immediately clear if there are any changes to the salary requirements.

The amendment is in line with "international developments and in accordance with best practices", the UAE Cabinet said in a statement. "The decision aims at enhancing family stability of foreign workers and social cohesion, as well as attracting highly skilled workers while maintaining a healthy balance between professional and personal lives," it added.

The Cabinet decision, the statement explained, called on relevant government entities to conduct studies to assess and enhance the services provided to residents. This includes aspects of education and health and encouraging the "active participation" of the residents' family members in the job market as an alternative to recruiting new workers from abroad, within the existing policies and regulations.

Welcoming the announcement, Nasser bin Thani Juma Al Hamli, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, said the decision will strengthen "family ties of workers" and boost the labour market.

"It will also improve the workers' productivity and create a suitable work environment for them. This, in turn, will improve the national economy," the minister said.

"The UAE is home to more than 200 nationalities. The country always works towards ensuring residents' rights by providing them with suitable regulations that are in line with international standards. We think of residents as our partners in development."

Ali Mohammad bin Hammad Al Shamsi, chairman of the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, said the UAE has become an "attractive destination for those who want to achieve their goals".