Part-time jobs under new UAE labour law: Do I need approval from my primary employer?

The new UAE labour law allows residents to take up part-time work in addition to their main jobs. What’s more, they can take up the second job without the primary employer’s approval. All they need is a temporary work permit from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation.

The ministry shared this information in a tweet on Wednesday.

The new labour law will go into effect from February 2, 2022. As per the law, employees in the private sector can have part-time, temporary and flexible work contracts.

The part-time work scheme allows employees to work for more than one employer for a specific number of hours or days either on-site or remotely, as defined by the contract.

However, to avoid employee burnout or employers’ misuse of human resources, the law places a threshold of an average of 144 hours in three weeks.

“This way, we ensure employee wellbeing while maintaining their flexibility to optimise their talents with different employers,” Dr Abdulrahman Al Awar, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation, had said earlier.

Another contract is that for temporary work. This is for a specific period or on a project basis that ends with the job’s completion.

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The new labour law aims to unify public and private work systems. Employees of federal entities and private companies will obtain the same leaves and end-of-service benefits.