Many cases of workers leaving their official work without prior notice have occurred in many official and private sectors, causing incalculable damage to the company, so managers are looking for ways to protect their rights from workers.
In this article, we will discuss the disciplinary penalties that the law allows you to impose, as well as the solutions provided for in UAE law, so please continue reading.
Disciplinary Penalties
Decree No. 33 of 2021 AD establishes the Federal Law (learn more here) governing labor relations, also known as the UAE Labor Law, which allows employers to impose a set of penalties on employees who violate the executive regulations of the Labor Law, including the following:
- Written notice.
- Line attention
- Deducting no more than five days’ pay from the violating worker’s paycheck.
- Suspension of the worker from work for a period not exceeding 14 days, with the wages for these days deducted from his salary.
- If the establishment or company uses a periodic bonus system, the worker will be denied the periodic bonus for a period of no more than one year.
- Depriving the worker of promotion for a period not exceeding two years, if the establishment’s system is based on the promotion system.
- Dismissal from service while retaining the worker’s right to an end-of-service bonus.
Controls when imposing disciplinary sanctions on employees
The Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 1 of 2022 AD (from here) clarified the executive regulations of Decree No. 33 of 2021 AD for the federal law regulating labor relations, It approved the following controls when imposing disciplinary penalties for workers:
- Considering the seriousness of the violation when imposing the penalty, in accordance with the criteria outlined in Article 24 of the preceding decision.
- The employer must create a list of penalties to clarify the disciplinary penalties issued in Article 39 of the UAE Labor Law.
- Refrain from imposing any of the penalties specified in Article 39 of the previous law decree unless after notifying the worker in writing, hearing his statements and recording them in his private file, and then informing the violator of the penalties imposed on him, their types, their causes, and the penalties that will be imposed on him if the violation occurs again.
- If the violation occurred more than 30 days ago, the worker may not be fined.
- The worker has the right to file a complaint with the Ministry of Human Resources, as well as the right to contest any penalty imposed by the facility’s management.
Work organization regulations.
Article 14 of the aforementioned law states that establishments with more than 50 employees must establish work regulations, such as penalties, promotions, and work instructions, as well as rewards and procedures for terminating the working relationship, these regulations must take into account the following controls for regulating work:
- Not to violate the provisions of the UAE Labor Law or executive decisions.
- That the sanctions list includes the controls and conditions for signing.
- Contain a list of work instructions, daily working hours, weekly and monthly holidays, and precautions to take to avoid fires and work injuries, as well as holidays.
- It should include a list of rewards, promotions, controls, and criteria.
Temporary suspension of work
Article 40 of the Labor Law provides for a worker’s temporary suspension from work if he commits a crime of assault on people’s lives, a crime affecting trust and honor, or goes on strike.
The suspension from work begins the day the competent authorities become aware of his crime and ends when they issue a decision in this regard.
During the above-mentioned stoppage period, the worker does not receive his wages, If a decision is issued acquitting the worker here, the employer must return him back to work and pay him his wages for the period of work stoppage, and the employer has the right to temporarily suspend the worker from work for thirty days for investigation. Disciplinary action will be taken against him, and half of his wages will be deducted during this time.
Finally, we hope that we have provided you with information about leaving work without notice, and we wish you continued good health and well-being.
