No deduction of HRA during annual leave

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No deduction of HRA during annual leave

Published: Mon 12 Nov 2012, 8:45 AM

Last updated: Tue 7 Apr 2015, 12:40 PM

Annual leave

I joined in an LLC company recently and came to know that during the annual leave, the accommodation allowance will not be paid by the company. Is this legal though we keep paying our rent even if we go for leave? What are the allowances they can cut during annual leave?

Annual leave is a basic right of a labour guaranteed by the UAE Labour Law. Article 75 of the UAE Labour Law states that: The employee must be granted an annual leave during each year of service which may not be less than:

i) Two days per month in respect of any employee with more than six months and less than one year of service.

ii) Thirty days per annum in respect of any employee whose period of service exceeds on year. In the event of termination of an employee’s service he shall be entitled to an annual leave for the fractions of the last year of service.

Therefore, the Company cannot deduct the accommodation allowance during annual leave as per the above mentioned Article 75 of the UAE Labour Law. However, the company is only authored to deduct transportation allowance during annual leave if provided.


Tourist visa

My husband lost his job in May and left the country in June. I got him a one month tourist visa and extended it for one more month. Does he need to exit the country in case he gets an employment visa? May I immediately get him a visit visa once he exits the country? I have heard that there is a one month waiting period before I apply.

Two different scenarios have been mentioned in the question. One, exit in the case of employment visa and the other, obtaining another visit visa immediately after he exists. Please note that it is not necessary for your husband to exit from the UAE in case of obtaining an employment visa. Your husband may stamp the new visa by paying Ta’adil Waza’a fee without exiting the UAE. However, as per the UAE Immigration rules, your husband has to leave the country after expiry of the tourist visa and a new tourist visa will not be issued until the expiry of 30 days.


Leave accumulation

I would like to find out the legal opinion pertaining to leave accumulation and encashment. How much leave can employees accumulate and what is the encashment rule?

Annual leave is the basic right of a labour guaranteed by the UAE Labour Law. Article 75 of the UAE Labour Law states that the employee must be granted an annual leave during each year of service.

Accumulation of leave is the internal policy of any organisation. Thus, in the absence of any clear policy, the employee may accumulate his annual leave and will be entitled to encash it. Article 78 of the UAE labour Law describes the basic principle of enchasment in these words: “The employee shall receive his basic pay in addition to housing allowance, if any for the annual leave days. However if the exigencies of work necessitate that the employee work during his annual leave in whole or in part, and the period of leave during which he has worked, has not been carried forward to the next year, the employer ought to pay him his wage in addition to cash in lieu of leave for his working days based on his basic pay.” Therefore, either the annual leave has to be carried forward to the next year or paid in cash on the basis of basic salary.


No ban for govt employees

I am on a Jebel Ali Free Zone visa. I have been working in a company there since September 2010. I am moving to a government company in Dubai. Is there any chance that I will face a ban? Is the ban rule applicable to free zone companies or only limited to companies governed by the Labour Ministry?

Free Zones are not governed by the UAE Labour Law. Each Free Zone has their own zones. Furthermore, the labour ban is not applicable to workers who are working in government organisation as the Labour Law states that: “The provisions of this Law are not applicable to the following categories: a) Officials, employees and workers of the Federal Government, Governmental Departments of the Member Emirates of the State, officials, employees and workers of municipalities as well as other officials, employees and workers working in Federal and local public departments and organisations, as well as the officials, employees and workers appointed for Governmental Federal and Local Projects.”

Since you are moving to a government organisation, the labour ban is not applicable.


Compiled by Ahmed Shaaban

Mushtaq Ahmad Jan is a lawyer at the Global Advocates and Legal Consultants, with a Master’s Degree in International Commercial Law, 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.

By Mushtaq Ahmad Jan

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