Employer told to pay Dh450,000 penalty

UAE labour authorities have told a private sector employer to pay Dh450,000 for failing to issue or renew 110 labour cards for his workers on time and rejected his pleas for any exemption, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The unnamed company pleaded for either total exemption or reduction of the penalty at an “open-day” meeting held by the labour ministry every week to consider various applications and tackle problems facing the private sector.

The ministry’s assistant undersecretary for labour affairs, Humaid Al Suwaidi, said the labour committee had turned down the request by that company on the grounds the new law does not provide for an exemption in such cases.

“Any reduction in the fines must be studied by a special committee at the ministry and a company seeking a reduction must not have more than three workers…it also should provide convincing reasons for its failure to have its labour cards issued or renewed on time,” he said, quoted by 'Al Ittihad' daily.

Under existing labour rules, companies which fail to have their labour cards issued or renewed two months after expiry or entry of the expatriate worker are fined Dh1,000 per each card for every one-month delay.
 

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