UAE: Is it legal to ask employees to be ‘on call’ after 8-hour duty?

Question: I work for a company in mainland UAE. If I work the required 9.5 hours, can I be expected to be ‘on call’ after work hours? There have been many instances of me having to log in to work from home after work hours. Is this legal?

Answer: In the UAE, the maximum working hours for an employee should not exceed 8 hours per day or 48 hours per week under Article 17(1) of the Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relations.

Furthermore, if an employee works beyond the regular hours, the extra time is to be considered overtime. For overtime, an employee may receive pay in addition to their regular salary, with at least an increase of 25 per cent. This is by Article 19 (2) of the Employment Law.

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“If the work conditions necessitate that the worker works for more than the normal working hours, the excess period shall represent overtime, for which the worker shall receive a wage equal to the wage corresponding to the normal working hours, which is calculated according to the basic wage plus an increase of not less than 25 per cent of that salary.”

In addition, if the work condition requires an employee to work overtime between 10pm and 4am, the said employee should receive pay in addition to their regular pay salary, with at least an increase of 50 per cent  by Article 19(3) of the Employment law which states,

“If the work conditions require that the worker works overtime between 10pm and 4am, the worker shall be entitled, regarding the overtime, to receive the wage prescribed for the normal working hours calculated according to the basic wage plus an increase of not less than 50 per cent of that wage. The workers working based on shifts shall be excluded from this clause.”

Additionally, an employer calling upon an employee to work for more than eight hours without any overtime payment may lead to employment by force. This is by Article 14(1) of the Employment Law, which states, “An employer may not use any means susceptible of obliging or forcing the employee, or threatening him with any penalty, to work for him, or forcing him to do a work or deliver a service against his will.”

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