MoL to fine employees for delaying labour card renewal

By Somia Sa’d

 June 09, 2013

DUBAI: Humaid Bin Dimas, Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs, has revealed that the Ministry of Labour (MoL) would impose a fine on private sector workers who did not renew their labour cards during the amnesty period that ran from December 2012 to Feb.2.

He added that the ministry called on employers to take advantage of the given period to take necessary procedures and let offenders and illegal residents travel to their countries penalty-free, but some didn’t comply.

Private companies whose employees did not have their labour cards issued or renewed on the correct dates will not have to pay any fines for the transgression as long as they can prove that the particular employee left the country during the amnesty period.

The penalty for the delay in obtaining a labour card after the legally required 60-day period from the date of entry, or the failure to renew it after its expiry, results in a Dhs1,000 penalty for every month it is delayed. This fine is supposed to be borne out by the company and not the employee.

The MoL and the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Residency and Foreigners Affairs would coordinate through an e-link exchanging information and data relating to all illegal residents who made use of the amnesty. This will facilitate the procedures of exempting the companies concerned, Bin Dimas said.