# Labour law questions



## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

I'll ask some questions for a change, if I may... I have spent hours and hours trying to find some clarification to a messy predicament. 

Calling all experts, please, on the below questions:

1) When does a employment agreement _officially _start? The date on the residency visa?
Does an employer face any fines/charges for delaying visa process? I was under the impression that the visa process had to be completed within 60 days from the issuance of the "pink slip"? What if it took considerably longer?

2) Are there any exemptions to which workers start accruing their holiday from the end of their probation or are all workers, regardless of profession/industry entitled to 2 days per month worked after the probation ends?

3) Which labour office would you recommend to visit in person to (at this stage) just clarify some discrepancies between the employee/employer contract and the labour law? Do they have some kind of desk where you can just ask for recommendations on how to proceed with things without filing a case (and having the employer notified or will they always be notified if somebody just asks for some clarification rather than filing a complaint)? Would the Al Manara one be any good?

4) I've read through the docs on this link, http://mol.gov.ae/molwebsite/en/labour-law/labour-law.aspx. It doesn't appear to be the latest version with the latest changes?

5) If filing a complaint, what does it cost and how long is it likely to take? What happens to the employment during the process? Does the worker continue to work or are they suspended pending on outcome? 

6) What is the best way to proceed when a contract is in breach (on several counts)of UAE labour law? For example in the UK it's possible to cancel a contract if it's deemed unfair and one-sided.


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

QOFE said:


> I'll ask some questions for a change, if I may... I have spent hours and hours trying to find some clarification to a messy predicament.
> 
> Calling all experts, please, on the below questions:
> 
> ...


My stab at the answers..... Not an expert, but some from personal experience and most from what I have read.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

Thanks rsinner. Let's see what they say.
Situations like this is when you really miss trade unions...


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## chestnut (Apr 1, 2013)

I though the law allowed the employer not to give any vacation in the first 6 months and that they then accrued at 2 days per month for the next 6 months. The employee is only entitled to take the holidays (again, according to the law) after 1 year.

Mind you not all employers follow the law and some (many?) allow employees to take accrue holidays and take them in the 1st year.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

chestnut said:


> I though the law allowed /QUOTE]
> 
> The operative word is 'allowed' rather than 'must'.
> 
> ...


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

QOFE said:


> Situations like this is when you really miss trade unions...


There's no problem too big or small that a union cannot make worse. 

Remember that unions are largely run by people who would never be allowed to have any real responsibility for people, nor do they ever suffer any consequences no matter how narrow minded and short sighted they may be. 

Port Talbot unions being the most recent example.


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

chestnut said:


> I though the law allowed the employer not to give any vacation in the first 6 months and that they then accrued at 2 days per month for the next 6 months. The employee is only entitled to take the holidays (again, according to the law) after 1 year.
> 
> Mind you not all employers follow the law and some (many?) allow employees to take accrue holidays and take them in the 1st year.


Well, we were told today that the days start accruing (two days per month worked) from the contract date (the date on the labour contract) and that holidays can be taken after the end of the probation (which is max six months).


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

twowheelsgood said:


> There's no problem too big or small that a union cannot make worse.
> 
> Remember that unions are largely run by people who would never be allowed to have any real responsibility for people, nor do they ever suffer any consequences no matter how narrow minded and short sighted they may be.
> 
> Port Talbot unions being the most recent example.


I'm sorry to hear you have bad experience with unions. I know that in some countries they work very well and have done a lot of good for the workers. Take Germany and the Nordic/Scandinavian countries just to mention a few examples.

You're a Tory, aren't you?


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## kavita74 (Mar 13, 2014)

QOFE said:


> Well, we were told today that the days start accruing (two days per month worked) from the contract date (the date on the labour contract) and that holidays can be taken after the end of the probation (which is max six months).


That is correct.
2 days per month from commencement of work or contract date. (Generally employers follow whichever is later). Holidays can be taken after end of probation. As per UAE labour laws, 30 calendar days or 22 working days. 
Can be taken 1 month together or in part, depends on employer.


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## TallyHo (Aug 21, 2011)

The UK has a complex relationship with unions.

There's no question that unions did many great things for works, including workers' rights and working conditions. But the unions were never properly managed and became intransigent and used their power to help bring down democratically elected governments and threaten to cripple the country through national strikes and blocked many attempts at meaningful reform and modernisation of various industries, which exacerbated the industrial decline in Britain in the 1960s-1970s.



QOFE said:


> I'm sorry to hear you have bad experience with unions. I know that in some countries they work very well and have done a lot of good for the workers. Take Germany and the Nordic/Scandinavian countries just to mention a few examples.
> 
> You're a Tory, aren't you?


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

QOFE said:


> You're a Tory, aren't you?


I'm someone who has seen unions destroy most of the U.K. Manufacturing base and let the Germans and Scandinavians get ahead. 

I have also worked in industries where there are no unions, because the staff have grown out of them.

Have you ever asked yourself why the vast majority of companies that are stable, productive and successful don't have strong unions ? 

Have you ever asked yourself why almost all union leaders are dinosaurs from the 1970's and UK union membership is only strong where the employer is not subject to competition - I.e. the failed public sector administrative functions ?

You're living in the 1970's aren't you ?


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## QOFE (Apr 28, 2013)

twowheelsgood said:


> I'm someone who has seen unions destroy most of the U.K. Manufacturing base and let the Germans and Scandinavians get ahead.
> 
> I have also worked in industries where there are no unions, because the staff have grown out of them.
> 
> ...


And Germany and Scandinavia? I was thinking of them when I said I miss the unions.
The German industry seems to do pretty well with strong unions...
I don't think we can compare UK unions with the German and Scandinavian ones.
I'm not saying they are perfect but they do a lot of good, still. I might have been born in the seventies but luckily not living in it now.


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## twowheelsgood (Feb 21, 2013)

QOFE said:


> And Germany and Scandinavia? I was thinking of them when I said I miss the unions.


How would someone from Suriname know about German and Scandinavian unions ? 

Germany is Germany - its not the UK. The average German unionised worker is a different genus to the average UK union member.

Unions used to do a huge amount of good, by their usefulness has long gone away for the majority.

Bet the Port Talbot workers are regretting listing to their union leaders when, a few years ago, they recommended not reforming the pension problem early and stand up for every penny they were owed even if it lost them their jobs.


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