Abu Dhabi Labor Court Contact Number
National occupational health and safety standards require employers to provide workers with a safe working and living environment, including minimum rest periods and limits on the number of hours worked, depending on the type of work. For example, the law requires a two-and-a-half-hour lunch break between June 15 and September 15 for workers working in exposed open areas such as construction sites. Companies are required to provide water, vitamins, supplements and shelter to all outside workers during the summer months to meet health and safety requirements. Employers who do not comply should expect fines and suspension of business activities. The government can exempt businesses from the lunch break if they cannot postpone the project for emergency or technical reasons. These projects include laying asphalt or concrete and repairing damaged water pipes, gas lines or power lines. • The court may ask a representative of the Ministry of Labour to appear and explain the content of the note it has submitted. The court then renders its judgment in this case. The law assumes that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Under the law, a defendant has the right to be informed immediately and in detail of the charges. The law stipulates that all judicial proceedings shall be conducted in Arabic. Despite the defendant`s procedural right to an interpreter, it was pointed out that the authorities did not always provide an interpreter or that the quality was sometimes poor.
In October, the Abu Dhabi Judicial Authority announced that Russian would be an official language in Abu Dhabi`s judicial system alongside Arabic, English and Hindi. For employers (require company code or number or transaction number): Twa-fouq service centers are authorized to receive all MOHRE complaints. They conduct the initial investigation, make recommendations to the Ministry and find an amicable solution to the complaint. If a solution is not agreed between the parties concerned within two weeks, the request will be forwarded to the court. The government has taken steps to prevent forced labour by continuing to implement the Wage Protection System (WPS) (see Section 7.e.). The government has imposed fines on employers who entered false information into the WPS, failed to pay employees for more than 60 days, or deceived workers into signing documents falsely certifying receipt of benefits. According to local media, some companies held ATM cards in front of employees, withdrew the money and paid the employee 35 to 40 percent less than the prescribed salary. Due to COVID-19 restrictions and cost-saving measures, workers have reported forced leave without pay or non-payment of wages. Although education is also accessible, federal law prohibits co-education in public universities, except in the Executive MBA program of the University of the United Arab Emirates and in some graduate programs of Zayed University. However, a large number of private schools, universities and private institutions were co-educational. According to officials, local women made up more than 70 percent of students at national colleges.
• The competent court will schedule a hearing for the action within three days of receipt of the request and will inform both parties. Anyone who does not comply with the contract, whether it is an individual or a company, is subject to penalties, so make sure you have not violated the company`s labor laws before filing a complaint against the employer. For claims up to 100,000 dirhams, the employee does not have to pay legal fees. Although it is illegal to charge workers recruitment fees, workers in both the corporate and domestic sectors often borrow money to pay for recruitment fees in their home country and, as a result, they spend most of their salaries trying to reimburse recruiters or lenders in their home country. This debt limited workers` ability to leave jobs, sometimes trapping them in abusive working conditions. The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization oversees the recruitment of domestic workers. In 2018, the ministry set up Tadbeer recruitment centres, one-stop shops for recruitment agencies to register their services, workers being interviewed and receiving training, as well as visas and identity documents to be distributed. Individuals reported problems in obtaining proper documentation and treatment for domestic workers through Tadbeer centers, including difficulties in processing basic services, paying wages, and withholding passports.
