Dubai’s New Employment Law You Should Know About

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum announcing Dubai’s New Employment Law

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Sunday, approved a new human resources law for Dubai Government.

His Highness’s remarks came as he approved the new Human Resource Law of the Government of Dubai, which focuses on ensuring job security and stability for all employees, improving overall performance, further enhancing government work, encouraging creativity and innovation among staff, and attracting the right talent that can help further cement Dubai Government’s profile as a model for innovation and excellence.

The new HR law includes 141 clauses instead of the previous 231 clauses and features new clauses in areas such as Emiratisation, scholarship, learning, and development. The law also gives nationals looking for jobs and internships the opportunity to benefit from the experiences of government agencies.
 

The new law also introduces ‘remote working’ and provides special privileges to people with determination. They will be eligible for shorter working hours if needed, subject to medical approval.
 
The new law also offers employees the opportunity to apply for internal positions; the employee is also entitled to overtime payment subject to the written approval of his or her line manager.
 

The process of granting promotion has become simpler under the new law. Employees with a satisfactory annual review are eligible for promotion giving them a stronger career path. A detailed employee performance management system will soon be issued that features amendments to the current system.
 
Added to that, annual leave for employees of grade 8 to 11 has been increased to 25 working days from 22 working days, while employees of grade 7 and less will get 18 working days instead of 15 working days. Grieving holiday for second-degree relatives has been increased to 5 working days from 3 days.
 

The new law grants employees a five-day fully paid leave to prepare for research, projects and graduation thesis. The law also provides the framework for greater cooperation between government agencies, enhanced team spirit, more robust exchange of expertise and transfer of knowledge between government agencies through external secondment.