Are employment contracts prevalent
Are Employment Contracts Prevalent at all Organizational Levels?
All employees must be on three-year or shorter fixed-term employment contracts. Employment Contracts may be extended for the same or shorter duration, either explicitly or automatically, if the parties continue to perform the contract.
The UAE labour courts rely solely on stated written contractual provisions and do not typically imply terms in employment contracts.
According to the UAE labour Law, employment contracts must include:
· The name and address of the employer
· The employee's name
· Nationality
· And date of birth
· The duration of the contract
· The role or job title
· The start date
· The place of employment
· The working hours
· Rest days
· Any probationary period
· Annual leave
· Wages (including benefits and allowances)
· Notice period
· Some details (such as the employee's nationality and date of birth) are not strictly enforced.
What, if any, parental leave rights exist at the national or local level?
Every new mother has the right to:
Up to 60 calendar days of maternity leave, with 45 days at full pay and 15 days at half pay; 45 calendar days of unpaid leave if they experience pregnancy-related sickness; and 30 calendar days of paid and 30 calendar days of unpaid leave if their child is born with a disability.
For six months following the date of childbirth, employees are entitled to two 30-minute breaks for breastfeeding.
In practice, this is often one hour, and the employee is permitted to:
Start or leave work an hour later, or take a two-hour lunch break.
All new parents are entitled to five days of paid parental leave within six months after the birth of their kid. This leave is in addition to the mother's statutory maternity leave entitlement.
There is no legal requirement for businesses in the United Arab Emirates to provide expanded maternity leave and benefits, yet many do.
Are labour unions recognized, and what legal rights do they possess?
Unions are not officially recognized in the United Arab Emirates. However, the UAE labour Law offers a process by which groups of employees may file collective complaints with the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE).
