MOHRE, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, is the driving force behind shaping the UAE’s labor market. With a mission to empower Emirati talent and oversee labor affairs, MOHRE focuses on creating a balanced and efficient employment landscape. This ministry is committed to implementing policies, regulations, and services that enhance job opportunities, protect workers’ rights, and support the nation’s overall economic vision.
MOHRE has a strategic plan to make the job market in the UAE more attractive to Emirati talents. They want to create a better job market and contribute to the UAE’s goals. To do this, MOHRE has different strategies like making good policies, working with others, and giving good services.
One important thing they do is called Emiratisation. This means they want more Emirati people to work in the UAE. They also study the job market and help Emiratis find jobs. They support small businesses and give training to people who want jobs.
MOHRE has different parts. One part is for things like labor rules and inspections. The other part helps Emiratis with jobs. They also have some other departments that work with the Minister’s Office.
Call
Locations
Complaints
Call
Call Center 600590000
Call Labor Claims 04 6659999
Locations
| OUR OFFICES | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Complaints
If you have a problem or complaint, here are some steps to consider. Try to avoid taking any drastic action (for example suddenly abandoning your work) without at least phoning the MOL first. If you are in a situation where you are being threatened, abused, assaulted, or similar, phone or go to the police.
- Phone the MOL helpline to get advice or clarification. Information might be inconsistent so consider phoning again to get a second opinion.
- Phone a lawyer (or more than one lawyer) to get legal information. A phone call is free and you might get an opinion or advice. Visiting a lawyer for a discussion will usually cost AED 500-2000 per hour (sometimes cheaper for a first visit).
- Visit a Tasheel office to file a complaint, or just to get some advice or information. They are usually helpful.
- File a case against your employer or employee at a Tasheel center. It is cheap (about AED 20 when we went in 2017) and quick, and easy to do. If you’re the employee, bring your passport or Emirates ID, or at least a copy if you have neither. You will also need the mobile phone number of someone in authority at your company.
Filing a case might prompt the other party to at least try and have a sensible discussion, the MOL actively tries to talk to the other party or bring the two parties together. Be prepared though, for the other party, especially if you are the employee filing a complaint, to be stubborn and/or threatening. In some cases we are aware of, employers reacted especially badly, for example by terminating the employee, or filing a criminal complaint with the police. Although in theory you might have the law on your side, in practice to have your rights enforced can become complicated with resolution taking a long time (months or more) and costing money (tens to hundreds of thousands of dirhams in legal fees).
As an employee, if you do file a case with the MOL against your employer, and you get as far as an arbitration attempt at the MOL offices, our experience has been that no matter how unfair any settlement offer seems, it could be the best outcome you will get. Trying to fight for your rights after that seems to end up being expensive, time-consuming, and with an unpredictable outcome anyway … unless the cases we know of were employees who were particularly unlucky.
Below are some common cases, and our comments on possible outcomes for the employee. This is not backed up by any sort of authoritative information or source, other than our own experiences or direct knowledge of other people’s experiences.
- Passport retained by employer: In principle easy to resolve, might involve visit to court and police to force an employer to hand it over after an MOL meeting. Some failures, possibly dependent on job title (anyone involved in financial or accounting activities). Don’t expect to keep your job for long though. Companies that withhold employee passports don’t do it by accident, and they don’t want all their other employees filing cases against them at the MOL, so they are likely to find some way to terminate you for not cooperating with their illegal passport-keeping policies.
- Unpaid salary: In principle easy to resolve, but difficult to actually get any money if employer has no money or has gone out of business. If the employer comes to the arbitration meeting with a cheque, remember a bird in the hand …
- Unfair dismissal: Termination of employment can be done by either party at any time but there are consequences. If you are terminated, assume you will stay terminated no matter what happens at the MOL or in court. You might get all salary due to you but even if the MOL agrees you were unfairly dismissed, you could have a difficult time trying to get compensation for that if the employer is unwilling to offer you anything. Since the maximum legal compensation is 3 months salary, in most cases if you go to court to recover that money, any legal fees will exceed your maximum compensation, and those fees you paid do not get added to the employer’s bill even if you win, unless you then start a civil case to try and recover that money.
- Unfair dismissal as a result of filing a complaint with the MOL: Again, if you get fired, expect to stay fired, and try to walk out with as much of what is owed to you as possible. In principle, this would be a clear case of unfair dismissal deserving compensation, and the UAE labour law even explicitly refers to this situation (see Article 122 … More particularly, a termination shall be regarded as arbitrary if it is prompted by a formal complaint filed by the worker with the competent authorities …). In practice, perhaps it depends on the MOL arbitration officer’s mood, but our experience of such a case was that the compensation claim was not even considered by the employer or the MOL.
- Employment expenses charged to the employee: Again, in principle easy to resolve but in practice, it is easier to avoid paying money than to reclaim money already paid. Be careful what you sign but even if you messed up, go to the MOL anyway, especially if the employer is holding you to ransom by keeping your passport. It should be a clear case in your favor at the MOL office. It doesn’t always end up in your favor but don’t let the bad stories stop you from filing a complaint. The authorities in the UAE have repeatedly stated that employers do not have the right to keep employee passports.
