"Consequently, I don't have any legal authority to take such decisions and compensate private sector employees for a holiday when it falls on the weekly off day. Businessmen and traders would oppose compensating for holidays and may ask about the legal sanctity for such compensation.'

Dr Kaabi said the amended draft labour law, which will be discussed by a higher committee may not include compensation of holidays.

However, Dr Kaabi said there was urgent need to adopt a unified approach towards sanctioning equal number of holidays for the private and government sector employees to avoid any discrimination, and to maintain equal rights for all and to support the country's drive for encouraging nationals to join the private sector.

He said the difference in the sanction of the annual and official holidays between employees of the private and the government sectors discourages nationals from joining the private sector.

An official source from the National Development Human Resources and Employment Authority (Tanmia), arguing the issue from operation and emiratisation perspectives, said the difference in the sanction of holidays between the two sectors prompted some private segments whose operations were linked to government to observe the same holiday of the government.

Whereas, from the emiratisation drive perspective, the difference in holidays definitely discouraged nationals from joining the private sector.

'The longer annual leave and the more number of official holidays granted annually to the government sector employees was always cited as a major reason among nationals registered with the authority behind preferring to join public sector institutions over a private one,' he noted.

Tanmia succeeded in convincing some sectors to amend timings and to grant two days weekly off. Many companies in the private sector are observing two weekly offs similar to the government.

As well, since the labour law does not prevent private sector companies from compensating their employees if an official holiday falls on Friday, some companies have willingly compensated their workers on such occasions, he noted, adding: 'We wish that both sectors enjoys the same holidays by law.'

However, from human perspective, Dr Mohammed Al Mur, Director of Human Rights Department of Dubai Police, believed that all employees who are working in public or private sectors have the right to enjoy similar holidays and weekly offs.

Clauses of laws and regulations that govern the sanctioning of holidays to private and government sectors are in most countries different. 'The UAE is not the only country that observes different treatment in this regard,' he noted.

According to the UAE Labour Law, labourers are entitled to one-day weekly off and specified number of official holidays and religious festivities, he said.

For the government sector, it is the Cabinet, which specifies the numbers of off days to be given for different celebrations and occasions.

However, the labour law does not prevent a private company from compensating its employees for a holiday if it falls on Friday and does not prevent adopting a two day weekly off system.

Dr Al Mur noted that the Human Rights Department didn't receive any complaint from the private sector employees regarding not being compensated for a holiday when it falls on Friday.

'However, if some labourers lodge complaints in this regard, we will try to support the case from human perspective and will bring up this issue and discuss it with the relevant authorities if they can do something about it,' added Dr Al Mur.

Hamdan Al Harmi, Chairman of Hamdan Al Harmi Advocates and Legal Consultancy, debated from the legal perspective that if the labour ministry compensates for a holiday, which falls on Friday, he will not be violating the labour law.

And the same applies if he does not compensate because the labour law does not include any clause complying him to compensate.

As an employer, Al Harmi is not for compensating his employees because he has work commitments that should be finished on a certain short-term schedule. 'If workers were compensated via a ministerial order or through the employer's own initiative, the work commitment would necessitate asking workers to work overtime during the following week. This would result in protests from the employees side who would prefer at that time to have worked on the compensated day.' he noted.

Public sector employees feel that under the existing system, the rights of the private sector employees are curtailed, and that the partial treatment was unfair. While most of the public sector employees want a change to be brought in this regard, they are not in favour of curtailment of holidays in the public sector too. 'Of course, they (public sector employees) would want status quo to be maintained since a change would hurt their interests,” a civic body employee in Dubai told Khaleej Times.

T. Aliar, a public sector employee, said he believes there are anyway relatively fewer holidays in the UAE than in neighbouring countries such as Oman, Saudi Arabia and others, and as such, the proposal to reconsider public holidays is not right.

“Even if the holidays do not materialise for the private sector employees, these can be compensated in a number of ways, and that would make it a fair system. Rather than cancel out some of the holidays that are so far exclusive to the public sector, I think the authorities can offer those holidays to the private sector,” Aliar said.

Employers in the public sector do not seem to care either way. Most were of the opinion that in a country like the UAE where business, trade and commerce were so competitive and cut-throat, private sector establishments cannot afford more holidays.

“It's difficult for most of the private sector establishments to down their shutters on holidays, because that's when services are more in demand, and business is better. So even if the public holidays were offered to us (the private sector), the employees would have to work and be compensated in one of the many ways prescribed by the law of the land,” said Wasim Khusro, a Dubai-based businessman.