The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation called on private sector establishments and employers to adhere to the legally stipulated terms and conditions for imposing disciplinary penalties on their employees, to ensure that they are applied correctly and fairly.
The Ministry also stressed that conducting an official investigation with the offending worker, including informing him of his violation and hearing his statements, is a basic condition for imposing an administrative or financial penalty against him (according to the seriousness and gravity of the violation committed), and without it, the penalty imposed will be flawed and erroneous in its application.
In detail, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has obligated owners of establishments and employers affiliated with the private sector to a number of conditions before imposing any disciplinary or administrative penalty against any of their employees, the most important of which is that a facility may not impose a disciplinary penalty against its workers, for any act committed by the worker outside the headquarters, place or work site, unless he contacts the facility, the employer or the responsible manager, stressing that the worker may not be punished with more than one penalty or penalty for a single violation.
The ministry stressed, in response to the most frequently asked questions on its official website, the need for employers to ensure that the financial or administrative penalty imposed on a worker proven to have violated the law is proportionate to the extent of the damage or violation committed, provided that the financial fine does not exceed the deduction of five days’ wages per month, noting that a disciplinary penalty may not be imposed on a worker after more than 30 days have passed from the date of discovery of the violation, and a disciplinary penalty may not be imposed on him after more than 60 days have passed from the date of completion of the investigation into the violation and its proof.
She stated that the penalty of deprivation of the periodic bonus may not be imposed more than once each year, and that this bonus may be postponed for more than six months. It is also not permissible to impose the penalty of deprivation of promotion for more than one promotion movement, provided that the punished worker is promoted in the first subsequent promotion movement when the necessary conditions for it are met.
According to the Ministry, disciplinary sanctions are imposed on workers who do not comply with the rules and conditions imposed in the employment contract or the internal regulations of the institution, through gradual stages of disciplinary procedures, starting with issuing a warning to the worker, followed by imposing a fine on him, then deprivation of promotion in establishments that have a promotion system, then deprivation of the periodic bonus or its postponement in establishments that apply a system for such bonuses, provided that it develops to suspension from work with reduced pay for a period not exceeding 10 days, then dismissal from service while preserving the right to an end-of-service bonus, and finally dismissal from service without notice with deprivation of all or part of the end-of-service bonus.
A legal researcher at the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, Abdullah Mohammed Al Awadhi, stated in the Ministry’s “Labor Market” magazine that disciplinary sanctions are one of the means that ensure the smooth running of work in the labor sectors, and ensure the worker’s commitment to work rules and job duties to avoid being subjected to them, pointing out that the legislator granted the employer or his representative the right to impose disciplinary sanctions on the worker who fails to fulfill his obligations stipulated in the Decree-Law on the Regulation of Labor Relations and the organizational regulations, but in return, he was keen to set conditions and controls that ensure the use of this right in a fair manner without exaggeration.
Al-Awadhi said: “The employer or his representative must adhere to the terms and conditions stipulated by law for imposing a disciplinary penalty on the worker, foremost of which is that the employer informs the worker of what is attributed to him, hears his statements and investigates his defense, and records this in a report that is deposited in his personal file, and takes into account the choice of penalty according to the seriousness and gravity of the violation committed by the worker,” stressing that if the penalty goes beyond the limits of the legal scope stipulated by the law, the decision taken regarding the worker is flawed and erroneous in application.
He called on employers to take into account the terms and conditions stipulated by law for imposing disciplinary penalties, to ensure that they are applied correctly and fairly, and to avoid any negative effects that may result from the abuse of this right, and to keep in mind the principle of punishment in accordance with the work when using this right.
suspension
The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation has authorized private sector establishments to take decisions to suspend a worker from work in a number of cases, most notably “accusation of a deliberate crime, such as attacking a person, property, crimes related to honor, security, or a strike,” stressing the need to adhere to the decision to suspend work being “temporary,” starting from the date of submitting the report on the incident to the relevant authorities until a decision is made to refer it to the court, if the violation is proven.
The Ministry stated that if the worker is acquitted of what was attributed to him, he will return to his work and receive full pay for the period of his suspension if it was malicious by the employer, while the worker retains his right to object or complain against the report to the Ministry.
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