Divorcee risks losing custody of children if she remarries
I am a Muslim woman living in Sharjah. I was divorced two years ago. The Sharia court granted me custody of my 12-year-old daughter in addition to a monthly alimony and accommodation allowance. Two months ago, I remarried. My former husband discovered this and asked me to waive my custody rights over our daughter amicably as per Sharia. Does he have the right to take our daughter from me since I remarried? Can I ask the court to make our daughter choose either to remain with me, or with her father? What shall I do if he files a case against me before the Sharia court? I do not have my family in the UAE. In case I ask my current husband to divorce me, can I keep the custody of my daughter? The questioner’s former husband has the right to request the Sharia court to revoke her custody of their daughter if she remarries because Sharia takes into account the interests of the children. Therefore, the questioner might lose custody of her daughter if her divorced husband files a case in the Sharia court. In the event of the questioner getting a divorce from her current husband, she may keep custody of her daughter.
On the possibility of approaching the court to ask her daughter whether she prefers to remain in the custody of the mother or father, the court will not respond to this request because minor children often do not know their own interests and, therefore, only the Sharia court which assesses their interests would decide who deserves custody.
Pregnant employees
I am a woman living in Dubai. I want to know about the law for pregnant women employees. How many months of maternity leave is a woman entitled to get? In the offer letter of one of the women, it is mentioned that she can get maternity leave only after serving the company for one year, and that such leave will be unpaid leave or she can take that leave from her annual leave. As per the UAE labour law, is the new mother entitled to get a short leave to breastfeed the baby? Will the company have to pay for this maternity leave?
Article 30 of Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 states: “A female worker shall be entitled to maternity leave with full pay for a period of 45 days, including the periods preceding and following her confinement, on condition that she has been in service for a continuous period of not less than one year. If this is not the case, she shall be entitled to maternity leave with half pay.
“On the expiry of her maternity leave, a female worker may be absent from her work without pay for a maximum period of 100 consecutive or non-consecutive days if an illness preventing her from resuming her work and if the illness is confirmed by a medical certificate issued by the medical services specified by the competent health authority or if the latter authority confirms that the illness was caused by the women’s work of confinement.”
The leave mentioned in the above two paragraphs shall not be deducted from other periods of leave.
Article 31 of the same law states that “during the 18 months following her confinement, a female worker nursing her child shall, in addition to any prescribed rest period, be entitled to two additional breaks each day for this purpose, neither of which shall exceed half an hour. These two additional breaks shall be reckoned as part of the hours of work and shall not involve any reduction of remuneration.”
Finally, the offer letter, which mentioned that the lady employee is not entitled to maternity leave before completing one year in the company and that such leave will be unpaid, will be considered as against the labour law.
Questions answered by advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Shaiba Advocates and Legal Consultants.