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Three important decrees from the Ministry of Labour will significantly improve the UAE’s labour market and strengthen the principle that any individual’s employment in the UAE must be based on mutual agreement between the employee and the employer.The new and more flexible rules about changing jobs will make the labour market more competitive and also have the very important benefit of making the UAE much more attractive to skilled global talent and thereby help the country improve the standards of its workforce, contributing to meeting the UAE’s Vision 2021.
The first decree will eliminate the criminal practice of recruiting in the country of origin on one contract and presenting the unfortunate individual with a different contract upon arrival. The second clarifies that either a term-contract or an unlimited one can be ended by either the employee or employer.
The third decree makes it clear that an individual who has left a job has the legal assurance of being allowed to seek new employment, even if the employer is not happy about the individual’s ending of the contract.
It is important that the Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, also made it very clear that the new decrees follow the spirit of Article 20 of the UAE’s Constitution, under which the government of the UAE has a duty to uphold the rights of workers and interests of employers.
These three decrees have the important effect of de-linking sponsorship from employment and stopping unscrupulous employers from exploiting their labour force. They make clear that employment is based on voluntary engagement and either side has the right to opt out.
In explaining the rationale behind the decrees, the minister was blunt that like in most countries around the world, if an individual enters the UAE for employment, he or she needs a job to stay in the country. But the new rules make it clear that the individual also has the legal right to look for alternative employment should he or she wish to.
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