Maternity Leave in Dubai / UAE

[shawarma]

labour law and maternity leave in Dubai and UAE - information from Dubai FAQs

Seems to be some conflict in the law.

uae.gov.ae - UAE government site (undated) says from February 1999 that article 55 was revised so women can get maternity leave of 3 months on full pay, and another 6 months on half pay.

Maternity Leave

To address some of the issues discouraging women from working the Federal National Council approved a law governing maternity leave in February 1999. The FNC revised the text of Article 55 to give women entitlement to three months’ maternity leave with full pay. On motherc a re and childhood issues, the Council has said that a woman would be entitled to five separate periods of maternity leave during her employment. The law stipulates that a woman is also entitled to nine months' leave in total to look after her newborn child, comprising three months with full pay and six months at half pay.

But the UAE Ministry of Labor (MOL) site says articles 55 and 56[/url] are to do with wages, not maternity leave ?

SECTION IV

Wages

Article 55
Wages shall be paid in legal tender on a working day, at the place of work, in the official national currency.

Article 56
Workers employed on yearly or monthly wage basis shall be paid at least once a month; all other workers shall be paid at least once every two weeks.

However, articles 30 & 31 of the UAE labour law does apply to maternity leave according to the MOL, and says 45 days maternity leave on full pay if she has worked for a whole year prior to leave. If not, then she only gets half pay. I thought it was possible to extend that another 45 days on half or no pay, but I can't find confirmation of that.

Article 30

A female worker shall be entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of forty five days, including both pre and post natal periods, provided that she has completed not less than one year of continuous service with her employer. A female worker who has not completed the aforesaid period of service shall be entitled to maternity leave with half pay.

A female worker who has exhausted her maternity leave may be absent from work without pay for a maximum period of 100 consecutive or non-consecutive days if such absence is due to an illness preventing her from resuming her work. A medical certificate issued by a duly authorized medical institution or authenticated by the competent health authority confirming that the illness is a result of pregnancy or delivery shall document such illness. The leave provided for in the preceding two paragraphs shall not be deducted from other leave periods.

Article 31
During the 18 months following her delivery, a female worker nursing her child shall, in addition to any prescribed rest period, be entitled to two additional breaks each day for this purpose, neither of which shall exceed half an hour.

These two additional breaks shall be considered as part of the working hours and shall not entail any reduction of wage.

[shawarma]

Ah, there appears to be an argument. And article discrepancy is explained as reference to articles 54/55 are not for the Labour Legislation but something from the Civil Services Council?

What's not clear is what law applies now, or to who - there may be a difference for expat versus UAE national employees.

Old article from Gulf News 04 July 2001...

Published: 07/04/2001 12:00 AM (UAE)

FNC approves own version of maternity leave legislation
By Nissar Hoath

The Federal National Council defied the government yesterday and after a lengthy debate approved its own amended draft law on maternity leave for civil servants.

The FNC approval of its amendments came at the last general assembly of the Second Session of the 12th Legislative Chapter. The Second Session was declared concluded by a decree issued by President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. Speaker Mohammed Khalifa Al Habtour read out the decree to declare the session closed until November.

The FNC and the government have been at odds since 1999 over maternity leave described in Article No. 54 (now amended to 55) of the Federal Government Civil Services Council (CSC).
Yesterday's session was attended by Minister of Cabinet Affairs Saeed Khalfan Al Ghaith and Minister of State for Financial and Industrial Affairs Dr Mohammed Khalfan Al Kharbash.

After two hours of heated debate, members voted for the amendments proposed by the house committee, which calls for six-months' leave for civil servants - two months paid leave for delivery, two months half-paid leave for maternity and another two months without pay.

The additional unpaid two months must be approved separately by the management. Under the law, women employees may take advantage of the new maternity leave five times during their service period.

The government had increased maternity leave for civil servants in the draft law from 45 paid days to two months' paid and one month without pay. After a heated debate and seeing no conclusion, the Speaker gave the members two choices: the government proposal, or the draft with the committee's amendments.

Twenty-eight of the 39 members present voted for the committee amendments, rejecting the government's version. Earlier, some members suggested a third option - paid maternity leave for two months and another month without pay. However, the majority rejected it.

It is not clear whether the FNC's proiposed law will be accepted by the Supreme Council.
The law, originally drafted in 1998 by the government, was sent to the FNC in 1999 for recommendations and approval. It has been pending since then.

In the initial stage, the council proposed extended paid leave of one year - 180 days at full pay and 180 days at half pay. But this was rejected by the Supreme Council and the government and the house committee was asked to reconsider.

Kharbash said he feared that lengthy leave would reduce job opportunities for women.
"Giving long maternity leave will make the private sector cautious about appointing women because they cannot afford to compete with the public sector. This will narrow job opportunities for women in general.

"The number of UAE nationals seeking jobs in the private and public sectors is also increasing, with 700 to 1,100 students graduating every year." There was also an average increase of nine per cent in the number of women staff in all ministries, according to the government and the committee report.

There are 22,450 employees in ministries (excluding Interior Ministry), which include 8,994 married and 7,245 unmarried women. The number of women civil servants in other federal authorities is 6,050, according to ministry figures. In the next five years, the number of women civil servants is expected to rise to 25,000.

[shawarma]

What's not clear is what law applies now, or to who - there may be a difference for expat versus UAE national employees.

Here's the answer. From Gulf News Ask The Law 17 Sep 2004...

Questions answered by Hussain Mohammad Hussain of Ali Safar and Associates and Legal Consultants.

Maternity leave

Shibu Varughese in Dubai asks: The maternity leave section in the article at www.uae.gov.ae/Government/women.htm confirms that the Federal National Council (FNC) has passed Article 55 stating that women are eligible for three months full maternity leave and six months half pay. Is this applicable to all women in the UAE and also for women working in the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority?

This is applicable only to UAE national women. To address some of the issues discouraging UAE women from working, the FNC approved a law governing maternity leave in February 1999. The FNC revised the text of Article 55 to give women entitlement to three months' maternity leave with full pay. On mother care and childhood issues, the FNC has said that a UAE woman would be entitled to five separate periods of maternity leave during her employment. The law stipulates that a UAE woman is also entitled to nine months' leave to look after her newborn baby, comprising three months with full pay and six months at half pay.