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29 March 2024

All employees in private sector to be paid through banks

UAE Labour Minister Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, left, and Central Bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi exchange documents (MOHAMMED HAKEEM)

Published
By Staff Writer
Employees working for private sector companies in the UAE are to be paid monthly through banks under a new system launched by the Ministry of Labour and the Central Bank.

The ministry will obtain regular reports about companies that fail to pay employees or do not pay them in full and action will be taken to ensure all companies support the plan. Public sector employees are already paid through banks.

A memorandum of understanding establishing the scheme has been signed by Saqr Ghobash Saeed Ghobash, Minister of Labour, and Sultan bin Nasser Al Suwaidi, Governor of the Central Bank.

The Central Bank will instruct all banks operating in the UAE to open accounts for all companies and establishments registered with the ministry to enable them to transfer the salaries of their employees electronically via a special system which the Central Bank is developing.

The system will be linked to the ministry to enable it to obtain monthly reports about companies which fail to pay their employees or pay reduced salaries for some or all their employees.

Ghobash said: "The transfer of workers' salaries through banks, as is the case with the public sector, comes in the context of the country's attempts to regulate the labour market.

"We wish to provide the appropriate circumstances and environment to regulate the payment of workers' wages in a way that reflects positively on the companies and the economy in general.

"The ministry will exert all efforts to ensure that companies comply with this plan. I hope they will cooperate immediately." Ghobash expressed his appreciation for the role played by the Central Bank and banks operating in the UAE in putting the interest of a large group of workers above any other consideration.