Female recruitment only if workplace is secure

The approval of the request to recruit female labour is based on the requirement to provide a safe environment so that a woman is not exposed to any risks or indecent situations, Ministry of Labour has stressed.

The ministry referred the request of a company where the employer wished to recruit a female employee to work as a representative in the Al Quoz Industrial Area to the ministry’s inspection department to clarify the nature of the work of the company and to check if the workplace is appropriate for females.

This came during a weekly meeting of the ministry’s committee to reply to the requests and inquiries of employees and employers. It was held under Saif Ahmed Al Suwaidi, director of the ministry’s service centres, and Abdel-Wahab Essa, expert of the labour offices at the ministry.

The committee deferred a decision on the request of an institution that wanted to recover the bank guarantee of a number of workers under its sponsorship who had absconded.

The ministry postponed the decision until the employer submits documents that the workers have left the country. This would be reflected in the records of the Naturalisation and Residency Department. This step is required to recover the bank guarantee after the worker leaves the country or transfers sponsorship to work for another institution.

Meanwhile, the ministry confirmed that the request of an employer to change the company’s established activity or its name depends on the regular working of all units owned by them.

The committee confirmed that no unit of the owner should have fines against them or restrictions such as non-renewal of the trade licence or non-payment of salaries of workers under the applicable regulations and UAE labour law.

This came in response to a request by the owner of seven firms and found that most of them had some sort of violations registered against them.

The ministry also confirmed that the request to bring in new employees depends on the extent of the need for such expansion.

The committee rejected the request of a labourer to lift a ban against him and explained that there is no exemption from the ban decision against a worker who absconds to work for himself.

The committee referred the request of the owner of a company to exempt him from a fine of Dh10,000 to the Committee for Legal Affairs. The committee explained it was discovered that the fine was issued before the current owner bought the company where the first owner had issued an absconding notice against one of his staff.

The woman had objected to the notice and investigations found that the report was malicious. So the ministry cancelled the notice and fined the owner Dh10,000, which was challenged by the new owner.

The committee rejected the request of a citizen for exemption from the Dh5,000 fee required for the renewal of a labour card of a worker who is more than 60 years of age. The female owner presented documents stating that the age of the labourer is still less than 60 years.

Al Suwaidi justified the decision saying the ministry does not entertain any new documents provided by the labourer after it was discovered that most of them are manipulated to reduce the age to below 60, especially since the ministry had old data of these workers to prove the real age.

He said the committee had received 25 applications yesterday by employers and workers and found that 50 per cent of these were for exemption or reduction of fines or renewal of labour cards for workers.

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