Disciplinary Actions as per UAE Labour Law

As per the Chapter 6  (Article 102) – Disciplinary Measures:

The UAE Labour Law provides for various disciplinary measures which an employer or his representative may impose on the employees of the business. Disciplinary penalties which may be imposed by the employer or its agent upon its employees are as follows:

1. Warning.
2. Fine.
3. Suspension from work with reduced pay for a period not exceeding ten days.
4. Forfeiture of deferment of periodic increment in establishments where such increments system is applied.
5. Forfeiture or deferment of promotion in establishments where promotion system is applied.
6. Dismissal from service but reserving right to end of service benefits.
7. Dismissal from service together with forfeiture of all or part of the benefits, provided that penalties shall not be imposed for reasons other than those specifically prescribed in Article (120) of this Law.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 103): The disciplinary code determines the cases where each of the disciplinary penalties prescribed in the preceding Article may be imposed. The Mister of Labour and Social Affairs may issue by decision, a model penalty and benefits schedule to guide employers in setting up their respective regulations in this regard.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 104)-Fine: A fine may be a certain amount of money or an amount equal to the remuneration of the employee for a certain period of time. A fine in respect of a single offence may not exceed remuneration payable for five days. It is not permissible to deduct within one month an amount equal to more than five days pay from the employee’s remuneration in settlement of fines imposed upon him.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 105) –Record Register: A special register shall be kept where shall be entered all penalties imposed upon employees showing reason and occasion of penalty, employee’s name and his pay. A special account shall be made for this purpose and monthly total thereof shall be allocated for employees’ social welfare in accordance with a decision to be taken by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in this respect.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 106) – Deprived from periodic Increment: Periodical increment may not be forfeited more than once in a year. In addition, an employee’s incentives should not be postponed for more than six months.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 107) – Deprived from Promotion: No forfeiture of promotion may be made for more than one promotion step. The punished employee shall be promoted on the next immediate step when such employee becomes qualified for promotion.

As per the Chapter 6  (Article 108) –Deprived from Incentives: Financial proceeds collected by the employer as a result of the differences arising from forfeiture of increment or allowance or delay of the same shall be recorded in a special register with reasons thereof, name of the employee and amount of his remuneration. Monthly proceeds of such differences shall be allocated for spending on employees’ social welfare as may be decided by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in this regard.

As per the Chapter 6 (Article 109)-Disciplinary Code: Disciplinary penalties may not be imposed on an employee who has committed an offence outside the place of business unless the said act is relevant to the business, the employer or its manager. Nor is it permitted to apply more than one penalty in respect of one offence or to combine between disciplinary penalty and deducting part of the employee’s pay in accordance with the provisions of Article (61) of this Law.

As per the Chapter 6  (Article 110) any of the penalties prescribed in Article 102 may not be applied on the employee unless he is notified in writing of the charge taken against him and unless his statement is heard and his defense is investigated and unless all that is recorded in a report kept in his personal file. Penalty shall be noted at the bottom of the said report. The employee shall be notified in writing of the kind, amount and reasons of penalties and the action taken against him in case of repetition of the offence.

As per the Chapter 6  (Article 111) an employee may not be charged with a disciplinary offence after lapse of thirty days from disclosure of the same, nor may a disciplinary penalty be imposed after the lapse of sixty days from closing of investigation on the offence and finding an evidence against the employee.

As per the Chapter 6  (Article 112) – Suspension: If the employee has been charged with premeditated crime, such as his involvement in a physical assault or robbery of property or other offenses such as the abuse of honesty, breach of trust or strikes, the said employee may be temporarily suspended from work. If a judgment releases the employee from standing a trial or acquits him he shall be reinstated to his work and his remuneration for the suspension period should be paid to him in full in cases where his suspension was maliciously contrived by the employer.

Therefore, it is always advisable to take and record the minutes of meetings held with employees, which should be signed by both parties and submitted to the Ministry when necessary.