The New UAE Labour Law: Federal Decree-Law No.33 of 2021: Starting Wednesday – 2nd February 2022, new laws will shake up the private sector work landscape in the UAE. Recruiters say the new regulations will give jobseekers more security and stability in their careers.
Under the new rules, you can live in the country for six months after leaving a job.
Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, also known as the Labour Law, and other amendments, governs the labour rights of employees in the private sector. The law applies to all employees working in the UAE, regardless of nationality or residency status. However, specific categories of employees are exempt from the Labour Law and may have to follow another set of regulations.
The new decree-law aims to increase the flexibility, resiliency, and sustainability of the labour market nationwide and ensure the protection of workers’ rights. It places the welfare and well-being of employees at its core. Accordingly, it provides a variety of measures to ensure a safe, healthy, and business-conducive environment for all employees in the private sector.
The New UAE Labour Law is intended to achieve the following:
- Ensuring the efficiency of the UAE labour market by supporting the attraction and retention of future skills and talents and providing an attractive business environment for employers, to enable both parties to contribute to the achievement of the UAE’s national development goals;
- Regulating employment relationships and defining the rights and obligations of the parties to this legal relationship in a balanced manner;
- Enhancing the flexibility and sustainability of the UAE labour market through ensuring the protection of the parties to the employment relationship, its developments, and the exceptional circumstances that they may face and would thereby affect such relationship;
- Improving and developing the capabilities and skills of workers in the private sector in a manner that enhances the efficiency and productivity of the workforce in the UAE labour market; and
- They are protecting both parties to the employment relationship and enabling them to obtain their rights within the framework.
According to the Federal Laws No. 24 of 1981 and No. 12 of 1986, the following categories are exempted from the law:
- federal government employees and local government employees
- All workers in or connected to a public entity or institution, whether national or local, are appointed for governmental, national, or local projects.
- members of the armed forces, the police, and security staff
- domestic servants in private households and similar occupations
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