Employer in UAE can't force you to sign up for telecom plan

Q: I work in the Ajman branch of an Abu Dhabi-based company. Our firm is issuing postpaid mobile plans to employees, even if they are not requesting them. The fee for the connection is deducted from the monthly salary. If anyone refuses, however, the company still obliges the person to sign the contract and take it. Is this legal? Can we be forced to take up a service we don't want?
 
A: An employer cannot force an employee to purchase commodities from third parties. This is in accordance with Article 59 of Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 regulating employment relations in the UAE (Employment Law), which states: "No employee shall be obliged to purchase food or other commodities from a particular shop or good produced by the employer."
Further, an employer cannot deduct any amount from an employee's salary for the private payments of the employee to third parties. This is in accordance with Article 60 of the Employment Law, which states: "No amount of money may be deducted from an employee's remuneration in respect of private claims, except in the following cases: (a) the recovery of advances or amount of money paid to the employee in excess of his entitlements, on the condition that the amount deducted in this case does not exceed 10 per cent of his or her periodic remuneration; (b) contributions which the employee is required by law to pay from his remuneration, e.g. towards social security and insurance schemes; (c) the employees' contributions to a savings fund or repayment of advance repayable thereto; (d) contributions towards any welfare scheme or in respect of any other privileges or services provided by the employer and approved by the labour department; (e) fines imposed upon the employee for any offence he has committed; (f) any debt payable in execution of the judgement of a court of law; provided that the deduction shall not exceed one quarter of the employee's remuneration.
"Where two or more debts are payable, the maximum shall be half the employee's remuneration and the sums of money attached shall be divided pro rata among the beneficiaries, after the payment of any legal alimony at the rate of one-quarter of the employee's remuneration."
Your employer cannot force you to sign the contract for a postpaid mobile connection, as forcing a person to sign a document is a criminal offence in the UAE.
This is in accordance with Article 397 of Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 on the issuance of penal code (Penal Law), which states: "Whoever, by force or by threat, obtains a document, a signature thereon, an amendment thereto, cancellation or destruction thereof, shall be punished by term imprisonment."
You may inform your employer that it is illegal to force anyone to purchase a commodity from a third party and deduct the payment for such purchase from the salaries of its employees. You may try to solve this matter amicably. However, if your employer would still insist that you get the mobile service and then deduct a portion of your salary without consent, you may approach the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and file a complaint against your employer. Further, your employer cannot terminate you on grounds of 'not obtaining postpaid mobile services from the telecom company'.
You may also file a criminal complaint against the employer at the police station for forcing employees to sign telecom contracts.

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