Holidays form part of annual leave

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Holidays form part of annual leave

Published: Mon 28 Jan 2013, 9:19 AM

Last updated: Fri 3 Apr 2015, 5:20 AM

I work for a private school in Sharjah. I have to leave for India for 10 days. If there are government holidays, will I be eligible for salary during these three days?

Thirty days annual leave is the basic right of a worker which includes holidays if they come during these 30 days. In simple words, the holiday starts on any calendar date and will continue for 30 days from that date, including any kind of holiday as per Article 77 of the UAE Labour Law which states:

“The annual leave period is deemed to include such holidays as prescribed by law or as agreed to, and any other periods of sickness, occurred during this leave and is considered as part thereof.”

Therefore, the three days will be counted as a part of your holidays. Furthermore, if you have not availed your annual holidays as per your contract, then, you are entitled to receive full payment for the entire days. However, if you have availed your annual holidays, then, the entire holiday will be without pay.


Labour ban

I work in a construction company as a helper, but I am a qualified person. I obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration, Human Resource Management. My contract with the company is for two years. I have completed only eight months in the company. Can I join any other job on the basis of my education? Is there any leniency in the labour law for educated people (university graduates)?

As per the new regulations mentioned in Cabinet Resolution No 25 of 2010 regarding internal work permit at the Ministry of Labour, a university degree holder, who is earning or offered a minimum of Dh12,000 per month, will not be subject to employment ban even if he terminates his employment contract before two years. Therefore, if you find a new job with an offer of Dh12,000 per month, you may resign from your current job and switch to another job without facing any ban.


Wife’s sponsorship

I am an engineer by profession and my husband entered the UAE under my sponsorship. I cancelled my sponsorship when he got a job. Now his company visa will soon expire and he wants me to sponsor him again. My question is, should his company cancel his visa first before I sponsor him again? Will it be required for him to exit the UAE, or he can stay here while I process his visa?

Since the company provided your husband with a visa and work permit, his employment contract can be terminated only by him and his company. Hence, your husband has to resign from his current job and then cancel his visa first. Only then can you apply for his visa.


Amnesty rules

I would like to know more about the government announced amnesty for labourers. Actually, I bought a house worker visa (immigration visa) from someone for my brother. We were told that once my brother finds a new sponsor, the local sponsor will cancel the visa and we can join the company on that visa.

Now the problem is that my brother has found a job and the company is willing to sponsor him. But the local sponsor put an absconding case against him without our knowledge. We have tried several times to contact him but in vain.

The general principle of the law states that a contract is the binding law of the contracting parties provided it does not contradict any mandatory provision of the law, public order and morals as set forth in article 126 of the civil transaction law. Though the local sponsor has said he will cancel the visa once your brother finds a job, it is against the public order and the basic rules of immigration as imposed in the UAE, and therefore void and not enforceable. In simple words, your brother’s contract with that person does not have any legal value in the eyes of law.

Furthermore, if a worker is sponsored by a person/company and the same did join the work, then, the sponsor has to apply for absconding if he does not report for work.

Therefore, the action of the local sponsor is legal and will be enforced. Furthermore, as per the amnesty announced by the immigration, illegal residents who overstayed their visas can visit residency departments across the UAE to obtain outpasses and leave the country without penalties or regularise their visas after payment of fines between December 4 and February 3. Since your brother is an illegal worker, he can avail of the amnesty facility and can contact a call centre set up in Dubai for this purpose.


Mushtaq Ahmad Jan is a lawyer at the Global Advocates and Legal Consultants, with a Master’s Degree in International Commercial Law from the University of Hull, Kingston-upon-Hull, England. Readers may e-mail their questions to: news@khaleejtimes.com or send them to Legal View, Khaleej Times, PO Box 11243, Dubai.

Compiled by Ahmed Shaaban

By Mushtaq Ahmad Jan

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