Equal Wages for Women and men approved by UAE Cabinet

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

The United Arab Emirates’ cabinet approved a bill guaranteeing equal pay for men and women as the Gulf nation strives to bring more females into its workforce.

The 'law on equal wages and salaries for men and women' will ensure that women have equal opportunities as partners in the UAE's development. It will also empower women to lead future national strategies and ambitious projects, it was announced on Tuesday.

Announcing the law on Twitter, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said the country's constitution guarantees impartiality between men and women as a fundamental right.

"Our Constitution calls for equal rights and duties of the genders, and we seek to elaborate, enforce and guarantee this constitutional right through the new law," he tweeted. "We do not want any exception when it comes to providing equal opportunities for both genders."

He said the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan had recognised the importance of establishing gender balance and its long-term positive social and economic effects.

Hailing the law, Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, noted that the UAE has achieved gender balance "in all fields". "The decision encourages women to devote themselves to work and make greater efforts to achieve the state's goals," she said.

The UAE government has been consolidating efforts to narrow the gender gap. In 2015, the UAE Council for Gender Balance was established to position UAE among the leading countries in the world in terms of gender balance. The UAE continues to champion the involvement of women in the development process through the issuance of the new law.

The Cabinet's approval of the law is in line with the government's objective to ensure the protection of women's rights and support their role in the national development process. It is part of the Strategy for the Empowerment of Emirati Women launched by Sheikha Fatima, who is also the President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood and Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation.

Empowering women in UAE

• 66% of public sector employees are women, with 30% in leadership roles
• 70% of school and university students are women
• 65% of total higher education graduates are women
• 8 women in the UAE Cabinet
• 8 women in the Federal National Council 2nd in the Arab world in World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Report 2017
• The Federal National Council's speaker is a woman
• The second country in the world after Norway to impose women's representation on boards of directors of companies
• Gender Balance Guide for the workplace in the UAE is the world's first of its kind for workplaces
• The country aims to be among the top 25 nations worldwide excelling in the field of women's empowerment

Passports do not need to get bail in Dubai

Suspects involved in certain misdemeanours will be able to keep their passports in their possession and not have them confiscated by prosecutors thanks to a newly launched smart initiative.

Suspects, who involve in particular misdemeanours, can start obtaining an electronic bail without having to keep their passports or those of their guarantors in the possession of the Dubai Public Prosecution as per the ‘Smart Bail’ initiative, Prosecutor General Ali Humaid Bin Khatem told.

“This new initiative was put into practice as of January 2018 at Jebel Ali Police Station. The ‘smart bail’ initiative allows suspects involved in minor crimes and/or their guarantors to keep hold of their passports without depositing them in the custody of the prosecution or police. However, an electronic order will be issued and circulated to all ports banning the involved suspects from leaving the country,” Bin Khatem told.

The initiative applies on suspects involved in misdemeanour cases of crimes such as bounce cheques, cursing/insulting, breach of trust, drinking alcohol, assault and petit embezzlements and thefts and other minor offences, he elaborated.

 “As per the smart bail, the suspect will not be asked to hand over his/her passport but they will not be allowed to leave the UAE. This initiative acts as an ‘electronic guarantee’ that the suspect attends the prosecution’s investigation or the trial. We do not want any more passports to be physically given to the prosecution in such misdemeanours … it helps in reducing the cost of managing those passports since we have had an average of 30,000 to 40,000 passports to handle per year,” said Bin Khatem.

The number of detainees will be reduced and the ‘smart bail’ initiative will permit such suspects, according to the prosecutor general, to practise their normal life inside the country.

Deliberating further, Bin Khatem said: “Suspects involved in such misdemeanours will be able to renew their residencies or their passports despite being involved in legal action. This initiative was mainly launched to satisfy our clients as much as possible. For instance, guarantors will not have to hassle anymore and have their passports kept in custody.”

He told that the ‘smart bail’ initiative will be put into practice across all the police stations in Dubai ‘very soon’.

“This initiative will make the lives of suspects involved in such misdemeanour cases easier. It falls within the Dubai Government’s plan to turn to a smart and paperless government,” concluded Bin Khatem.

Dubai public prosecution will no longer keep passports

The Dubai Public Prosecution will no longer be keeping any passports of residents or visitors who have been charged with a crime or need a bail. The data of the person instead will be stored electronically.

If the person needs bail, they will no longer require a friend or relative to keep their passport on their behalf.

The 'Smart Bail' initiative has been announced at the Dubai Government Excellence Programme on April 9.

Ali Humaid Al Khatim, Advocate General and Chief Prosecutor of Immigration at the Public Prosecution, told that the move is to ensure they eliminate the method of holding passports.

Last year, and almost every year, we held 50,000 passports and we want to reduce this. The resident or visitor will have all of their data saved in our system all over the UAE so we will not need their passport," he said.

"This will also give the person ease because he can get his visa renewed or anything related to the passport because he will have the important document with him."

No plans to enforce minimum wage policy in UAE

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation stressed that the government has no plans to implement a minimum wage policy in the UAE.

In a statement, the ministry said that wages, including for domestic workers, will continue to be fixed through negotiation between employer and employee. “The UAE’s wage policies enable a flexible labour market that creates thousands of new jobs annually,” it said.

“The government remains of the view that a free labour market, based on supply and demand, creates the optimal conditions, under which we are able to continue to welcome thousands of guest workers to the UAE every year, while simultaneously fostering sustainable economic growth.”

The ministry has nothing to do with any statements about fixing minimum wages for domestic workers, it added.

Domestic workers

The UAE has recently taken steps to increase protection of domestic workers. On September 26, 2017, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued Federal Law No 10 of 2017 regulating the contractual relationship between employers and domestic workers. It provides legal protections to safeguard the rights of all parties involved.

Some foreign embassies in the UAE have announced their governments’ decision to impose certain pre-conditions, including minimum wages, for recruitment and retention of their workers in the UAE.

Although such conditions are not legally valid in the UAE, the foreign countries implement them by denying permission to new workers to leave the country. Embassies also refuse to attest renewed job contracts of existing workers in the UAE.

A foreign embassy recently said it would not attest the job contract of housemaids working in the UAE if the contract does not meet its new criteria, which include increased minimum wages based on the maid’s years of experience.

The embassy’s attestation is not a mandatory requirement under the UAE laws to renew a maid’s job contract and employers are free to renew it. However, when a maid goes back home, emigration authorities will not permit her to leave the country if her job contract is not attested by the embassy.

UAE suspended new rules for Good-conduct Certificates

The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation said the change was effective from Sunday, April 1.

 The rule was introduced on February 4 and meant anyone moving to the UAE had to present a police document from their home nation demonstrating they had no criminal history or convictions.

That document had to cover the past five years. It was suggested that the checks would eventually be extended to anyone moving between jobs in the UAE as well.

The Ministry said on Twitter that "the good conduct certificate is postponed from the first of April until further notice", without elaborating. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) issued a circular in this regard to all Tasheel centres processing work permits and employment visas by Sunday noon.

“We would like to inform you of the decision of the Cabinet No. 20 (4) of 2018 of Session No. 4, which temporarily suspends the Cabinet decision (Ministerial Resolution) No. 1/8 of 2017 of Session No. 8 regarding the addition of the requirement to obtain a certificate of good conduct for expatriate workers who wish to obtain a work visa in the country, starting from 1 April 2018,” read the English translation of the Arabic circular.

Embassies have described being inundated with requests from their citizens and said they have struggled to understand the ins and outs of the new rules; some countries appear to have faced more problems than others.

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