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Firms face suspension for failure to cancel visas of employees aged above 60

According to the ministry's rule, which is stipulated in the labour law as well as in a ministerial order issued a few years ago, no visa is issued to an expatriate worker above 60 years of age except in special cases and for particular categories, including highly experienced people who are needed in the country and who can contribute to the UAE development and growth.

"Despite such a clear rule, some companies continue to employ their workers aged above 60 illegally and in violation of the labour regulations, and eventually subject themselves to the ministry's suspension procedures in its bid to correct irregularities in the labour market," said Abdullah bin Suloum, Director of the ministry's labour Inspection Department. Blacklisting and suspending companies for their failure in cancelling visas of elderly workers is a fresh measure, since the ministry focused earlier on other types of violations, particularly those concerning the non-payment of wages.

In this context, Mr Bin Suloum said that the ministry had suspended 899 companies since the beginning of this year until the end of August - 549 from January till June and 350 in July and August.

"The number of companies suspended in August alone were 125 for committing different labour violations in addition to 148 suspended in the same month for being involved in bank guarantee forgery cases, while the number of blacklisted companies in July was only 77," the director of the Labour Inspection Department said.

Speaking about the types of violations for which the companies were blacklisted, Mr Bin Suloum said that topping the list is illegal recruitments, the failure to cancel visas of employees above 60 years of age, non-payment of salary, failure to observe occupational safety rules, and most recently the negligence of hygiene and proper living conditions at labour camps.

On the issue of occupational safety, he said that the inspection had recently focused on 45 companies in Dubai which had a history of labour strikes for non-payment of wages and the provision of unhealthy living conditions for their workers.

"We have visited these companies, all in the construction field, on a first inspection tour, during which we discovered that three were closed and the rest have committed different violations pertaining to safety.

The errant companies were issued warning and they were made to sign undertakings to rectify the violations and pay the salary on time. On the second visit we were happy with the results, as all companies cooperated," Mr Bin Suloum said. Shedding light on inspection activities since the beginning of the year until end of June, he said that inspectors visited 10,268 companies to estimate the work and recommend whether to grant these companies more visas.

A total of 3,696 companies were inspected to ensure their observance of labour regulations; occupational and industrial safety precautions were monitored in 445 factories, 34 schools, institutions and nurseries were visited to find out if they had been employing teachers without labour cards and visits were paid to 824 companies as part of the follow-up inspection to check if they had rectified their violations.

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