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Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - United Arab Emirates (RATIFICATION: 1982)

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Article 2 of the Convention. Exceptions to the limits on normal daily and weekly hours of work. The Committee notes that under section 65 of the Labour Relations Law (Federal Law No. 8 of 20 April 1980 on the regulation of labour relations), the hours of work may be increased to nine hours a day in any establishment where such increase is authorized by order of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. While noting the Government’s indication that no such Ministerial order has so far been issued, the Committee recalls that Article 2(b) of the Convention permits the daily limit of eight hours to be exceeded by no more than one hour only in the case where the hours of work on one or more days of the week are less than eight hours. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take all necessary measures to ensure that any Ministerial order, which might be issued under section 65 of the Labour Relations Law with a view to increasing from eight to nine the maximum number of hours of work per day in any public or private industrial undertaking, would only allow the variable distribution of working hours within a week under the circumstances set out in Article 2(b) of the Convention.

Article 6. Permanent and temporary exceptions. The Committee has been requesting the Government to indicate whether any progress has been made towards the adoption of the draft Ministerial Order on preparatory and complementary work in industrial undertakings which had been prepared in 2003 and which had been circulated for comments to each of the Federations of Chambers of Commerce in the Emirates. In its 2011 report on the application of the Convention, the Government indicated that draft legislation amending the Labour Relations Law was under preparation while in its latest report the Government provides no further information on the legislative amendment process. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to indicate whether it still intends to amend the Labour Relations Law of 1980 with a view to regulating permanent exceptions (preparatory or complementary work and intermittent work) and temporary exceptions (exceptional cases of pressure of work) from normal hours of work in full conformity with the requirements of Article 6 of the Convention.

Moreover, the Committee notes that under section 67 of the Labour Relations Law where the circumstances of the work require a worker to work more than the normal number of hours any period worked in excess is treated as overtime and carries extra remuneration. The Committee also notes section 69 of the Labour Relations Law, which provides that the number of actual hours of overtime may not exceed two a day, unless work is necessary to prevent substantial loss or a serious accident or to eliminate or alleviate its consequences. The Committee recalls, in this respect, that Article 6(1)(b) of the Convention allows for temporary exceptions (overtime) only in exceptional cases of pressure of work while Article 6(2) requires the maximum number of additional hours to be kept within reasonable limits prescribed in line with the general goal of the Convention which is to establish the eight-hour day and the 48-hour week as the legal standard of hours of work in order to provide protection against undue fatigue and to ensure reasonable leisure and opportunities for recreation and social life. Considering that prescribing a limit only to the daily number of overtime hours – as opposed to the number of overtime hours that may be worked over a period of several weeks, a month or a year – is not sufficient to protect industrial workers from the risk of abuse, the Committee requests the Government to take appropriate action in order to bring the national legislation into full conformity with the requirements of this Article of the Convention.

Article 8(1)(c). Record-keeping. Further to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Ministry of Labour has issued a circular that requires all undertakings and establishments to keep a record of all additional hours worked by their employees. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide in its next report a copy of this circular.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee notes the statistical information provided in the Government’s report, in particular the inspection results concerning the Emirate of Dubai according to which more than 85 per cent of all undertakings inspected in 2012 were found in violation of the legislation regarding the maximum daily limit of overtime hours. In view of such high incidence of non-compliance with the working time legislation, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures it intends to take in order to remedy this situation. It also requests the Government to continue to provide up-to-date information on the practical application of the Convention.