“The penalties could include an imprisonment term the duration of which will largely depend on the absconding period and the damage the company incurred due to the employee decamping,” the official source told Khaleej Times.

He underlined the ministry was embarking on a plan to finalise a comprehensive study that seeks to lay down stricter measures to penalise absconding workers.

The official underlined labour authorities will stop tracking an employee reported absconding if he showed up within 90 days of the filing of the absconding report.

“We are keen on providing labourers with an adequate grace period to show up and clarify the reasons for their disappearance. This sanction period aims to verify employers claims about absconding employees,” explained the official.

He said the step would block the way for some unscrupulous employers, who intentionally submit false reports against their employees as absconding to cause them damage.

The official stressed that the ministry would not make arbitrary decisions on workers reported absconding, taking into consideration the remarkable rise in false reports on run-away labourers the ministry has lately received. More than 20,000 employees were reported absconding over the past seven months, according to labour authorities.

“Labourers are now provided with ample time to prove they were not running away for their employers if they want to settle their problems through legal channels,” he said.

He said if the absconding employee was caught working for another sponsor, the recruiting company will be penalised for violating labour laws and regulations for employing a run-away worker. He warned companies found involved in fabricating reports to make the authority believe the employee has run away, will have their file suspended while all their labour transactions blocked.

Elaborating on other penalties eyed by the study, the official said banning employee from entering the country on either visit or employment visa for a specific duration that would be later defined.

“We are contemplating a penalty for run-away employees that bans them from entering the country for a visit or to seek a job for a certain period that has not yet be specified,” said the official.

WHY DO WORKERS ABSCOND?

By Hakam Kherallah

ABU DHABI — Terms and conditions of all labour contracts, especially those in the construction business, are almost the same any where in the UAE. Still, labourers abscond from their lawful sponsors and seek employment with others. Over the last seven month, more than 20,000 employees were reported absconding.

“They abscond because they are usually given a little more money than what their sponsors give them,” explained Mohamad Memdah, a site engineer at a company.

He complained that many labourers abscond for that reason, hearing stories from their compatriots that they will always be able to find jobs in the construction sector in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, or even in Umm Al Quwain, Ajman or Ras Al Khaimah.

“The construction sector is booming, and there are always jobs available,” he said of the reasons that give these labourers the psychological strength and the determination to abscond and find alternative options away from their legal employers.

Memdah said it all starts with failure by the labourer intending to abscond in reporting to work under any pretext. “Almost all labourers fail to come to work on many occasions claiming they are sick, tired or even not being in the mood to work. We serve them a warning when there is no justification for failing to show up. On the third warning, many companies decide to sack the labourer,” he said.

Before that happens, the labourer in question decides to abscond. He would leave the labour camp he is staying in, and never shows up again.

According to Memdah, the labourer goes to find another job with a different employer and succeeds in that as they are many contractors in need of more labourers to execute their projects. He even gets more money in many cases, with the option of running away again if he does not like his new-found ‘illegal’ employer. He cited the examples of a number of employers who worked in projects he supervised for the last three years.

“All the money that the labourers collect is sent directly to their home countries. They do that as a routine thing, because when they decide that they no longer want to stay in the country, they give themselves up to police. When the cops ask them if they had any money, they would answer in the negative. Practically, this means these absconders would not have to pay for air fare to fly back home, as they have no money to finance their trip,” said Memdah.

By the time these absconding labourers decide they no longer want to stay in the UAE, they would have achieved what they wanted, with the freedom of shifting from one illegal employer to another.

Officials say that the responsibility lies with employers who fail to abide by the rules and tend to hire illegal workers to get on with their projects and execute them in time, despite the chaos that they make in the labour market.

“I am not sure whether the penalties and control measures initiated by the labour authorities would curb this phenomenon. These labourers are mostly illiterate and they do not read any newspaper. And when they hear about any rule against absconders or illegal employers, they shrug it off and continue with their work,” said another site engineer.

“We understand that these labourers have responsibilities back home, and they also have to pay back facilitators in their home countries who arranged their employment in the Gulf. But many of these labourers do not seem to take it easy and wait till they get their salaries and make some savings before they handle their financial obligations back home. They find in absconding a short cut to more cash. But it does not always work, and the authorities are determined to curb this phenomenon,” the engineer said.

He said not many absconding labourers return to their legal sponsors after long periods, but others who just disappear for a few days — mostly individuals want to take a few days off to discover the country, see friends in other emirates or other reasons, do return to work and resume their duties after the wages of the days they spent away from work sites deducted from their income.