147 firms breached UAE’s midday break rule

The UAE’s Ministry of Labour announced yesterday that 99.69 per cent of the country’s private firms adhered to the midday break commitment.

Out of the 77,522 facilities that were inspected during the three-month summer period while the midday break rule is imposed in the country, only 147, or 0.31 per cent, were found in breach of the rule.

The midday break stops labourers from working under the sun and in the open areas from 12:30pm till 3:00pm, and urges business owners to provide shaded areas for the workers during their break period and to completely cease work.

The decision also refers the owners to adapt to eight daily working hours and reimburse labourers working overtime according to the provisions of Federal Law No. 8 of 1980, it urges employers to post a scheduled timetable with suitable languages as well as Arabic, to ease the inspectors monitoring process.

There are certain exceptional cases that require continuation of work during those periods for technical reasons, yet employers are obliged to provide cold drinking water, safety tools and materials, salts, lemon, fresh salads and all necessities that have been approved for use by health authorities in the country.

The ministry’s inspection team carried out 105,421 field visits during the period between June 15 and September 15. A total of 77,669 visits were carried out to ascertain the level of commitment to the decision while 27,752 visits took place to raise the level of awareness amongst these establishments.

Mubarak Saeed Al Dhaheri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Labour, pointed out that the level of commitment by the employers has increased when comparing it to the past 10 years since launching the work ban, which confirms their knowledge about the importance of the decision and its role in providing a healthy work environment which safe and decent for the workers.

“The decision aims at reducing the damages workers could get from working under the sun, which will definitely stabilise labour relations and increase productivity in the labour market, especially since the decision embodies the highest standards of occupational health and safety,” he said.

He pointed out that the ministry is very transparent before taking any actions against any establishment, “The penalty is set unless proven otherwise. Our inspectors record everything through photographs and video during the banned timings, and if caught, a fine of Dh15,000 will be slapped per case,” he said.

The total of 17,155 inspectional visits took place in Abu Dhabi and 26,608 visits in Dubai, 8,186 visits in Sharjah, 10,154 In Ajman, 3,264 in Ras Al Khaimah, 6,038 in UAQ and 6,117 visits in Fujairah.

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