New Emiratisation rule in UAE: Minister warns of tough action against firms flouting rules
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Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) is closely monitoring the implementation of Emiratisation in the labour market, and has come across some unfortunate cases.
According to a statement issued on Saturday by Dr. Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, some employers have been observed to lower the salaries of Emirati job candidates despite the fact that Nafis would provide them with a number of benefits, including salary top-up, when they were hired.
“Therefore, we reiterate that the Ministry will be firm in implementing the necessary procedures with any company that attempts to abuse Emiratisation-related policies and decisions, including Nafis’ benefits. MoHRE will address and deal with any such abuse in the right manner.”
“Some of these false and negative practices are considered as a clear violation of the Federal-Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 regarding Regulation of Labour Relations as it falls under discrimination between persons that would impact career opportunities in the labour market.”
Having said that, the minister calls on Emirati job seekers or those who are currently working in the private sector or community members at large to report any false practices pertaining to Emiratisation in the labour market through MoHRE’s call centre 600590000 to raise compliance with the relevant decisions, policies, laws and legislations.
This comes after MoHRE’s recent announcement that private sector companies have up till the end of this year to meet their Emiratisation goals of 2022. Fines for failure to achieve the Emiratisation target will come into force on January 1, 2023, and a Dh72,000 annual contribution will be imposed for every Emirati not appointed, MoHRE had said in a statement on Friday.
Nafis programme
‘Nafis’, which literally means ‘compete’ in Arabic, is a federal programme to increase the competitiveness of Emirati human resources and empower them to occupy jobs in the private sector. Launched as part of ‘Projects of the 50’, the programme aims to accelerate the UAE’s development journey and boost the economy.
Under the Nafis programme, the UAE will spend up to Dh24 billion to employ 75,000 Emiratis in the private sector over 2021 to 2025. It aims for Emiratis to hold 10 per cent of the UAE’s private sector jobs by 2025.
