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Companies allowed to lend labour force

DUBAI — Lending of labourers between construction companies has been legalised in the country following the issuance of a Cabinet decision in this regard, revealed Ahmad Kajoor, Assistant Under-secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs for Planning and Manpower.

Lending of labourers is a practice that was noticed being illegally adopted by the companies when a company had finished the execution of a project and another needed workers, he observed.

The Chambers of Commerce and Industry proposed to the ministry the importance of legalising this practice in the light of the demand for such a procedure in the local labour market since it is a better alternative to send labourers back to their home countries when a company completes a project then having to apply for new batches of workers when the company gets a new project.

The ministry also sensed the need to put this practice under a legal frame in order to protect the rights of labourers and specify obligations of employers, he noted.

The Cabinet decision No 18 of 2005 issued on July 19 stipulated in its Article No. 4 that the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs or whoever he authorises, can allow the lending of construction workers from a company to another provided the company fulfills certain conditions detailed in the same article.

Stressing that the approval of the ministry is a pre-condition and so is the approval of the current sponsor of the workers the order specifies other conditions, concerning the number of labourers to be lended to another company is not be less than 20 in each case.

The company requesting to hire labourers under the lending scheme should prove in documents its actual need for labourers, and should submit an application to the ministry to this effect.

The second employer should pay different fees specified relatively to the duration of lending as follows:

Dh1,500 for each labourer if the period of lending is not more than three months,

Dh2,000 for each labourer if the period is more than three months and does not exceed six months.

Dh2,500 for each labourer if the period is more than six months and does not exceed nine months.

Dh3,000 for each labourer if the period is more than nine months and less than a year.

Should any company violate the decision, the ministry will double the fee of any future transaction, it would submit to the ministry, as a penalty.

In addition to that, the errant company will be blacklisted and accordingly will not be granted any fresh work permits till after six months from the date of payment of the doubled fees.

The minister is authorised to prepare regulative rules for this decision and is assigned to coordinate with the Ministry of Interior for the necessary sponsorship procedures. SPONSORSHIP TRANSFER: The same Cabinet decision regulated the sponsorship transfer of workers by specifying certain numbers of years of service with the first employer and linked that to the academic degree he or she holds as follows:

The employee should have completed at least ONE year if he/she was holder of a master's or adoctorate degree. This category is eligible for MULTIPLE times of sponsorship transfer without restrictions. The sponsorship transfer fee for this category is Dh1,500.

The employee should have completed at least TWO years with the first employer if he/she was holder of a bachelor's degree or what is equivalent to it. This category is permitted to apply for sponsorship transfer just TWICE during a continuous stay in the country. The sponsorship transfer fee for this category is Dh3,000.

The employee should have completed at least THREE years if he/she was holder of lower than a bachelor's degree. This category is permitted to apply just for ONE time during a continuous stay in the country. The sponsorship transfer fee for this category is Dh5,000.

The Minister of Labour and Social Affairs is permitted to approve the transfer of the sponsorship of any worker regardless of which category he or she falls under and without consideration in the years of service when the first and the second company was owned by the same person. The owner of the company should in this case pay a fee of Dh500 for each employee subject to transfer and only if the two companies were in the same Emirate. If the two companies were in two different Emirates, the owner will not be exempted from the fee structure made in accordance with the employee's qualification.