UAE Issues New Ministerial Resolutions on Employment Stability and Remote Working in Response to COVID-19

Background

As we are undergoing a period of concern for both employers and employees in the UAE given the lack of certainty regarding how long the current COVID-19 situation will continue to impact on businesses, the UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MOHRE) has recently issued two new Ministerial Resolutions: 

• Ministerial Resolution No. (279) of 2020 on Employment Stability in the Private Sector During the Period of Application of Precautionary Measures to Curb the Spread of Novel Coronavirus (Employment Stability Resolution); and
• Ministerial Resolution No. (281) of 2020 on Remote Working in Private Establishments During the Period of Application of Precautionary Measures to Curb the Spread of Novel Coronavirus (Remote Working Resolution).

These resolutions apply to all businesses onshore UAE and in its free zones (but excluding the Abu Dhabi Global Market and the Dubai International Financial Centre given both of these free zones have their own employment laws).

Employment Stability Resolution

The Employment Stability Resolution aims to protect the position of non-UAE national employees in the private sector during the application of the precautionary COVID-19 measures by the UAE government.

Amendments to employment terms and conditions

The Employment Stability Resolution provides that affected employers shall gradually take the following five steps with the relevant employee: 

1. working from home;
2. paid leave (in reality this will be enforced use of annual leave);
3. unpaid leave;
4. temporary salary reduction; and
5. permanent salary reduction

The Employment Stability Resolution makes reference to these steps being taken ‘gradually’ and, therefore, it remains to be seen how this will be construed in practice. Importantly, steps 3 and 4 require employee consent by way of: a written consent letter for unpaid leave and, for temporary salary reduction, a temporary additional supplement to the applicable MOHRE labour contract. For step 5, where the salary is to be permanently reduced, the employer will need to obtain MOHRE’s approval for the applicable MOHRE labour contract to be amended.  

Redundancies

The Employment Stability Resolution provides procedural guidance to protect employees in circumstances where the affected employer identifies a surplus of non-UAE national workers. Under such circumstances, the Employment Stability Resolution provides that the affected employer must continue to provide the outgoing employees’ benefits, i.e. housing, travel, schooling entitlements, etc, save for their basic salary, until the earlier of 

• the outgoing employee’s exiting the UAE; or
• the outgoing employee’s obtaining the necessary authorisation to work for another company.

Consequently, this is a material obligation on the affected employers, and will likely act as a disincentive for such affected employers when considering whether to reduce headcount.

In addition, the affected employer is required to offer outgoing employees the option of registering their details on the MOHRE’s portal for jobseekers known as the “Virtual Labour Market System”. Accordingly, such outgoing employees can be rotated and utilised by other companies seeking to hire candidates within the UAE given the suspension of foreign recruitment. MOHRE will operate the “Virtual Labour Market” as a digital and smart system and will issue temporary work permits for those outgoing employees who temporally transfer their employment to another employer.

Remote Working Resolution

The Remote Working Resolution requires all private companies (but excluding certain industry sectors) to minimise the number of workers physically present at their premises to the minimum necessary for business processes, subject to a maximum cap of 30 per cent of the total number of employees. The Remote Working Resolution does not apply to businesses which operate in the following industry sectors: infrastructure, catering, telecommunications, power, health, education, banking, food processing, hospitality, health supplies manufacturing and cleaning companies. 

Pursuant to the Remote Working Resolution, remote working applies to all employees whose job does not require their physical presence at the office, with priority given to those employees who are:

• pregnant;
• aged 55 and above;
• people of determination;
• people suffering from respiratory or chronic diseases; and
• mothers of children in grade 9 and below.

Obligations of the employers under the Remote Working Guidelines

The Remote Working Resolution further stipulates a Temporary Guide Regulating Remote Work (Remote Working Guidelines), and, pursuant to the Remote Working Guidelines, an employer shall:

• provide all necessary technical tools and smart platforms to employees so as to enable them to perform the work remotely;
• put in place mechanisms for the management and assessment of remote work, such as determining remote working hours and key performance indicators;
• provide a safe and reliable technological environment in order to ensure data privacy of employees and to regulate login credentials for security purposes;
• supervise employees to ensure their observance of remote working hours and completion of tasks assigned to them; and
• facilitate the effective communication of employees, via the applicable digital platforms, with their colleagues, line managers and leadership teams.

Obligations of the employees under the Remote Working Guidelines

Pursuant to the Remote Working Guidelines, an employee shall: 

• obtain the employer’s approval for remote working;
• report to their employer when required;
• perform the assigned tasks within the applicable timeframes;
• be contactable by phone or email to ensure continuous communication subject to business requirements;
• maintain confidentiality of information in respect of the business; and
• maintain all remote working devices provided by the employer in good condition, and return the same to the employer whenever requested.

On a separate, albeit related, note, the Remote Working Resolution also sets out certain requirements which are of particular relevance to employers who provide their employees with labour accommodation including: 

• provide screening points for employees including taking temperatures and checking symptoms twice per day (suspected cases are prohibited from working or entering labour accommodation sites, and the same must be referred to the relevant health authorities);
• provide a method for transporting employees to and from the workplace subject to the capacity does not exceed 25 per cent of permitted seating within the vehicle, and ensure safe distancing measures are maintained;
• ban and cease all gatherings, and cultural, sporting and social activities at labour accommodation sites;
• minimise the number of employees at canteens of labour accommodation sites, and ensure safe distancing measures are maintained; and
• report any employees with COVID-19 symptoms or suspected cases.

Conclusion

The guidance set out by the MOHRE pursuant to the Employment Stability Resolution and the Remote Working Resolution is part of the wider UAE government measures to mitigate the COVID-19 situation by supporting local and foreign companies, investors, citizens and residents.

Given that the COVID-19 situation evolves rapidly (both locally and internationally), with new measures being introduced by UAE authorities on a regular basis, we will continue to monitor this situation closely, and we anticipate further clarity on the implementation of the Employment Stability Resolution and the Remote Working Resolution to emerge in the coming days and/or weeks.