Labour card-related violations fell by a substantial 63 per cent last year, said Humaid bin Dimas, Acting Director-General of the Ministry of Labour.
"Only 27,000 firms out of the 260,000 in the country committed labour card-related violations last year.
"The previous year 73,000 companies had expired labour card violations so there has been a significant reduction," he said.
The number of private sector employees in the UAE has increased by 82 per cent over the past four years, "despite this significant increase the country has managed to protect workers' rights by ensuring that they hold valid labour cards", he told Emirates Business.
"At the end of 2005 there were 2.25 million private sector employees in the UAE. The number increased to 2.5 million at the end of 2006, three million at the end of 2007 and 4.1 million at the end of last year. This represents an 82.2 per cent increase," said Bin Dimas.
There have been redundancies this year because of the financial crisis. The figures are not yet compiled.
The ministry regularly checks companies' electronic records and those with labour cards that have expired are notified of the need to renew them.
Checks are also made on firms that have been issued with permits but have failed to hand them over to their workers. "From the Ministry of Labour's point of view, if a worker has a labour card then they have a valid contract and accordingly their rights are maintained and they can make claims against the employer if a dispute arises between them.
"Just 10 per cent of companies in the UAE had expired labour cards or failed to give their workers labour cards last year. We are working intensively to mitigate this violation in the country."
According to the Ministry's records only 1.1 per cent of the total number of labour cards issued have expired. Currently there are 49,000 expired cards - down from 250,000 in 2006.
"The ministry gives this issue priority and teams of employees from the Naturalisation and Residency Department and the economic departments have been formed to inspect workplaces and control the labour market," said Bin Dimas.
"Companies are required to have valid licences in order to issue labour cards to their workers. Ordering companies to rectify the status of their workers ensures the validity of their licences."
Employers who have labour-card related violations are blacklisted. As per the rules, the minsitry turndown complaints made by employees who hold expired labour cards.
By Eman Al Baik
© Emirates Business 24/7 2009
