Commuting time is not work hours
I am working as a supervisor in a security company. My labour contract stamped by the ministry states that the working hours per day are eight hours. My question is regarding the time spent in transportation between the company accommodation and the workplace. We spend more than three hours on the road from the workplace to the accommodation. Therefore, we don’t get enough time for rest. My company last year decided to include 30 hours in a month for calculating our salary in compensation for reaching the accommodation late. As per the UAE labour law, does the time taken to travel between the company accommodation and workplace included in the working hours as overtime? Do we have the right to ask the company to pay for three hours per day as overtime for that?
I would like to clarify to the questioner that Article 65 of the UAE Labour Law states the following: “The maximum normal hours of work of adult workers shall be eight a day or 48 a week. The hours of work may be increased to nine hours a day in commercial establishments, hotels and cafés and in guard duties and any other operations where such increase is authorised by order of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. The daily hours of work may be reduced in the case of arduous or unhealthy operations by the order of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs. The normal hours of work shall be reduced by two during the month of Ramadan.
“The time spent by a worker in travelling between home and the place of work shall not be included in his hours of work.” As per the above-mentioned article, the employees have no right to ask for overtime pay for the hours spent between home and the place of work.
Termination of limited contract
I have been working in a private school for almost one year under a contract for a limited period which expires in November 2018. I am under my husband’s sponsorship but I have a work permit from the Ministry of Labour. Can I leave work after giving a one-month resignation notice to the school as per the labour law? Does the school have the right to reject my resignation? Will the Ministry of Labour (Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation) impose a ban on me even if I am under my husband’s sponsorship? Do I have the right to end-of-service gratuity in accordance with the UAE Labour Law? I would like to clarify to the questioner that if the contract for a limited period is terminated pre-term, the questioner will lose her labour rights except the right related to leaves. She might be requested to compensate the employer with an amount equivalent to the salary for 45 days if the employer proves that he has suffered a loss. The employer as per the labour law has no right to reject the employee’s resignation. The employee is not obliged to give the one-month notice if the labour contract is for a limited period. Finally, the labour law is applicable to the questioner since she has got a work permit from the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation and it does not matter whether she is under the employer’s sponsorship or not. Therefore, the employer might request the ministry to impose a one-year work ban in case the questioner terminates the limited contract before the expiry date.