DUBAI // Residents and landlords will find it easier to protect themselves in case of disputes over property leases by registering their tenancy agreements at a new government office.

The new branch to register contracts in the Ejari system was opened Tuesday at the Al Twar centre of Dubai Municipality, a senior official said.

The system aims to establish a central database of rented properties, and to record the details and agreements in all lease contracts.

“Opening an office will definitely help,” said Salik Ashrafi, a property adviser with Taktical Realty. “Earlier, if people had many questions and specific queries and needed to do special documentation, they couldn’t get all the information online. So this is a good move.”

With the new office, officials seek to help residents save time in the registration process, said Marwan Bin Ghalaita, the chief executive of the Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera).

“It is necessary to build an inclusive leasing regulation system that is able to protect the rights of all parties and solve the problems existing in many state departments,” Mr Bin Ghalaita said.

Until now, the registration process for rental contracts in the emirate was available through an online portal, www.ejari.ae, established by Rera as per a 2010 government announcement.

The March 2010 announcement for rental contracts to be registered through the Ejari portal was part of an effort to standardise contracts, regulate the relationship between the landlord and tenant, and protect the rights of both in the event of claims or disputes. Ejari means “my rent” in Arabic.

“The registration will be quick and easy at the branch,” said an official at the new centre. “It will be done in 10 minutes if you have all the papers ready.”

The branch at Al Twar aims to facilitate the process for residents with officials on hand to answer queries. The centre will initially open from 8am to 2.30pm this month with plans to extend the closing time to 8pm.

The documents required for registration include copies of the tenancy contract, a copy of the title deed, copies of the landlord’s and the tenant’s passports, and the bill from the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) showing the account number.

The charge for registration in the Ejari system is Dh195.

A template of a rental contract is also available through Ejari.

Once the contract is entered into the system, an allocated bar code becomes the reference for the life of the contract.

Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

Sharjah: The General Directorate of Residency and Foreigner Affairs in Sharjah stressed that employers are responsible for renewing the residency visas of their employees during a period of labour disputes. 

Dr. Brigadier Abdullah Bin Sahoo, Director General of Sharjah’s Residency and Foreigner Affairs, told the Arabic Daily Al Khaleej that employers are still responsible for renewing the visas until the employee legally transfers his or her visa to another party, or leaves the country. 

He called on institutions and private companies to renew the visas of employees who are currently involved in labour disputes as part of their social, legal and ethical responsibility. 

Sahoo said that companies must inform their employees from refraining from illegal side-jobs, such as washing cars and illegal vendor activities. 

He urged companies to be very particular about people they hire, and to ascertain an employee’s qualifications and the validity of their documents presented regarding previous experience or aforementioned qualifications. 

“Sometimes companies would hire uneducated employees and then sacking them, which results in negative phenomenon for various categories of society, such as tourists, visitors, and other workers. Most of these workers end up residing in the country illegally,” Sahoo added.

Image Credit: Ahmed Kutty/Gulf News

 The IBAN is a standard for identifying all bank accounts in the UAE that the Central Bank (pictured) started implementing on November 19, 2011.

Abu Dhabi The UAE Central Bank Sunday attributed a delay in salary payments and transfers to the lack of the 23-digit International Bank Account Number (IBAN) on salary lists by some companies.

The regulatory body said it was the responsibility of employers in private and public sectors to supply banks with the IBAN of their employees or face non-payment of salaries.

The bank was flooded with complaints about delays in transferring salaries.

The IBAN is a standard for identifying all bank accounts in the UAE that the Central Bank started implementing on November 19, 2011.

“Companies send lists with employees’ salaries and IBAN numbers. Some of the employees still had not received their IBANs which delayed the processing of their salaries at the banks,” according to the Central Bank.

According to a statement by the Central Bank, the adoption of IBAN is a step in the right direction towards increasing the efficiency of electronic payments in the UAE, while further strengthening the country’s status as a global financial centre.

Mandatory

“A few people received their salaries a few days later than scheduled and this is because they had no IBANs which are required by the Central Bank,” said a banker.

The banker highlighted that “the Central Bank had many times issued statements telling clients to get their IBANs as this will be mandatory for all their incoming payments as of April 14 2012.”

by Ahmed Al Majaida

No company, whether big or small, will get exemption from fines imposed for violations of labour rules, according to the Ministry of Labour.

Humaid bin Deemas, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Labour, said on Thursday: “Two things I want every firm to do: One is making sure that workers are registered in the labour system and not wandering around the country illegally. The other is employees’ rights… pay their monthly salary and do not neglect their rights.”

Deemas was speaking at an open-day at the department after a complainant asked for exemption from fine imposed on his real estate firm, which hasn’t been paying salaries to its emloyees. The man claimed the market was performing poorly. “I’ve been losing lots of money and I couldn’t pay the workers,” he said.

Deemas told him to shut down his business if he cannot continue in the market: “It’s an economic crisis and it’s not only you who has been affected by it,” he said and rejected the request.

Another man asked for a fine exemption after the expiry of his labour card deadline. The owner asked  for a fine waiver because the worker was jailed for some reason. Deemas wanted to see a police certificate to verify that this person was jailed during the period to take the matter forward. The case was referred until the document was received.

Earlier, he said Emiratis could be delegated to more than one employer only if the other  company(ies) have less than 100 employees. He was referring to a young Emirati’s request for a delegate position in another company.  He viewed the second company’s labour records and found out that there were less than 100 employees working in it. He referred his case to be accepted as he had no issues against him.

“Each citizen has the right to work as a delegate for one employer. He can work with another employer, but only if the number of workers are less than 100 in all companies combined,” Deemas said.

“The ministry applied this decision since 2006, to create more opportunities for Emiratis across the country,” he said.

Pawan Singh / The National

Students at Dubai’s Jumeirah Model Girls School head to class from the assembly.

DUBAI // The emirate’s Executive Council has announced a complete overhaul of the education system.

A high-level committee has been appointed to reform the education strategy “in a short period of time” and in two phases, the council said yesterday.

The first phase will evaluate the state of education in Dubai and provide a baseline analysis. The second will be the development of a new strategy.

Emirati pupils will take priority in the strategy, as will the ability of schools to produce citizens who are ready to fill core positions in the emirate’s industries, the council said.

Access to quality education was also listed as a main goal, along with “identifying legislative and regulatory gaps”.

“The Ministry of Education will spare no effort in supporting the Executive Council, Dubai Education Zone and Knowledge and Human Development Authority [KHDA] to reach the desired goals,” said Humaid Al Qattami, the Minister of Education.

Mr Al Qattami said the plan would also support national education objectives.

“We are optimistic that when completed, the revamped K-12 education strategy of Dubai will meet expectations not only in regards to enhanced quality and governance, but also efficient fund and HR management,” he said.

Schools across the UAE are managed through the cooperation of several education councils, Mr Al Qattami said.

In Dubai, these councils include the Ministry of Education at a federal level, the Dubai Education Zone for state schools and the KHDA for private schools.

Past changes to the education strategy in the emirate have centred on these councils.

The KHDA was created in 2006 and given control of state schools during the introduction of a decentralised-education strategy.

In October 2010, another strategy saw state-school administration return to the Dubai Education Zone.

There has also been a migration of students from the state to the private system.

There was a 75 per cent increase of Emirati pupils in private schools between 2003 and 2010, according to a study published last year by the KHDA and CfBT, the British education trust.

In the same time, state schools recorded a 15 per cent decline in pupil numbers. Overall, about 57 per cent of Emirati children attend private schools in Dubai.

Nadia Al Falahi, an Emirati mother of four, said she found private schools were a gamble.

“They are expensive and you never know if they will be beneficial or not,” Mrs Al Falahi said.

Abdullah Al Shaibani, the secretary general of the Dubai Executive Council, said: “We are in full agreement with the Minister of Education that there is room for better alignment and a need for a clearer direction according to specific requirements of Dubai.”

The council said surveys would be conducted along with focus groups and interviews involving parents, students, teachers and principals, as well as investors, urban-planning experts, finance and education authorities.

“The revamp of Dubai education strategy will build on the success of what has been done by local authorities thus far, and on the national strategy developed by the Government,” Mr Al Shaibani said.

Dr Abdullah Karam, the director general of the KHDA, expressed optimism about the new plan.

“We are glad to have all parties on board for the revamp of Dubai Education strategy,” Dr Karam said.

“This project will tackle the missing or outdated components of the existing strategy and factor in its solid strengths.”

Dr Ahmad Eid Al Mansouri, the director general of Dubai Education Zone, agreed there was a need for a more specific strategy.

Dr Al Mansouri said collaboration between the authorities would lead to the successful introduction of the revamped Dubai Education Strategy.

The Dubai government is to issue a timeline for the payment of school fees to help parents and administrators

The initiative is designed to prevent problems with the mode and timing of fee payment experienced in recent years, according to a senior official from the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA).

“As per the current regulations school fees are due and payable on the first day of the semester or the month,” said Mohammad Darwish, Chief of Regulation and Compliance Commission at the KHDA.

“However KHDA will, in line with the requirements and requests from schools and parents, specifically set the timing for the payment of the fees.”

The move comes after reports that some schools are seeking fees a semester in advance, which is not allowed according to the current regulations.

Much-debated

 
Mode of payment and when the money is due is a much-debated issue and the KHDA’s recently-launched School Fees Framework is aimed at addressing and streamlining the process to benefit parents, students as well as school managements.

“The objective behind the development of a framework to regulate school fees is to protect the students and their parents as beneficiaries of educational services, as well as to provide a favourable environment for investors in the education sector and encourage them to improve the quality of education in the emirate of Dubai,” added Darwish.

He said the fee payment timeline will be launched soon.

Image Credit: Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News Archives

Dubai Naturalisation and Residency Department (DNRD). Residents have been reminded of a rule introduced in 2008 which requires tenancy contracts with the names of those seeking to sponsor families.

Dubai: A top official at the Ministry of Interior has warned that no leniency will be given to those who don’t produce a tenancy contract under their own name when seeking to sponsor family members on their own residency visas.

Major General Nasser Al Awadi Al Menhali, acting Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Interior for Naturalisation and Residency, told Gulf News on Sunday that expatriates need to have a proper accommodation with a valid tenancy contract under their own name to be able to sponsor their family members.

The clarification by Major General Al Menhali comes after some expatriates said they were not aware of the rules.

One Dubai resident said he wanted to sponsor his family but that his application was rejected because he used to live in shared accommodation with his brother.

The Indian man said the residency department in Dubai had asked him to submit a tenancy contract under his own name and that he would not be able to sponsor his wife and children without one.

“This is not a new rule as it was implemented a few years ago, but people are still ignorant to such rules and are surprised when they are asked to submit tenancy contracts under their name to sponsor their families,” said Maj Gen Al Menhali.

“Applicants across the country must produce a copy of their tenancy contract to prove their eligibility to sponsor a family so as to ensure they can actually afford to give their families a decent living space,” he added.

‘Rejected’

Maj Gen Al Menhali said those who live in shared accommodation and have a tenancy contract which is not under their own name will not have applications to sponsor their families accepted.

“We have to ensure that whoever applies for a residence visa for his or her family must have suitable and proper accommodation available for them and their families,” he said.

Maj Gen Al Menhali said it was not necessary for applicants seeking to sponsor families to produce tenancy contracts from the same emirate. The tenancy contract can be from any other emirate, but should be under the sponsor’s name only.

He said in 2008 the Ministry of Interior announced the rule. It was introduced to ensure that applicants who wished to sponsor their families had proper accommodation and that the sponsor could really support his or her family. “The contract should either be in the name of the sponsor or in the name of the company where he or she works,” he said.

“The application will be rejected if a big family lives in a studio apartment,” he said.

He added that those who wanted to bring their families on a visit visa were not required to present a tenancy contract with the application.

The Central Bank is preparing to overhaul banking laws dating back to the charter under which it was established, it revealed as it announced a slight dip in its earnings for last year.

The Central Bank also said it was discussing with the Ministry of Finance “major amendments” to banking laws, now in draft stage.

It signalled changes to the 1980 law under which it was established while also discussing laws on the monetary system and the organisation of banking. The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance also discussed a draft law on the organisation of the financial-services sector.

“The board stressed that these laws should reflect the independence of the Central Bank and the independence of monetary policy, as per the international standards issued by the Financial Stability Board and the standards of Basel Committee,” the Central Bank said in a statement that did not give details of proposed changes.

The banking law updates being considered come amid new rules meant to tighten up on lending practices common before the global financial crisis began in 2008.

This month, the Central Bank limited the amount that banks can lend to individual companies, after guidance from the IMF that the UAE should aim to shield its banks from excessive lending to government-related holding companies.

New laws on retail banking are expected to be issued within the next two months as part of what is being billed as an annual review of consumer finance regulations implemented last May.

The Central Bank reported net income of Dh3.7 billion (US$1bn) for last year, 0.5 per cent less than the Dh3.72bn made in 2010. It did not disclose how it generated its earnings last year.

The Central Bank transferred Dh2.03bn of its profit to fund the Ministry of Finance, while Dh925m of the bank’s profit was added to the federal Government’s deposit at the Central Bank.

A further Dh740m was transferred to the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme, which provides low-cost housing loans for Emiratis. All of the transfers require the approval of the State Audit Institution.

At the end of last year, the Central Bank held Dh171.03bn of investments, which in the past have accounted for most of its income. Its investments include highly rated securities, government bonds and treasury bills. Such investments decreased by 2.3 per cent during the year.

The Central Bank disclosed more details on its financial assets as a result of sovereign-debt crises in the United States and Europe.

A company must be well versed with labour law before terminating employment

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Under the UAE Labour Law, the termination of an unlimited term contract (other than in the circumstances provided for in Article 120) must be on written notice and for a “valid reason” (that is, a reason connected to the employee’s work).

Employee terminations involve an inevitable degree of emotion and are never easy. In these times of econ-omic uncertainty, many companies are considering the possibility of reducing their payroll costs by reducing their headcount. From a legal perspective, there are certain points to consider when proposing to make staff redundant.

Under the UAE Labour Law, the termination of an unlimited term contract (other than in the circumstances provided for in Article 120) must be on written notice and for a “valid reason” (that is, a reason connected to the employee’s work). The labour court may award compensation of up to three months’ remuneration should the termination be deemed by the court to have been arbitrary.

Although there is no statutory definition of redundancy in the UAE Labour Law, the labour courts have recognised an employer’s right to restructure its business and have held that redundancy is a valid non-arbitrary reason to terminate an employee.

However, any decision to make a particular employee or group of employees redundant should be capable of justification and, in all the circumstances, be reasonable, fair and transparent in the event that any redundant staff member(s) chose to bring against the company a claim for arbitrary dismissal.

To limit exposure, employers should undertake a limited consultation process. In the case of fixed-term contracts, in the event that the employer (or employee) terminates it for any reason other than those under Article 120 (or Article 121) of the UAE Labour Law, unless the employment contract provides otherwise, early termination compensation for a period of three months (at full pay in the case of a defaulting employer and half pay in the case of a defaulting employee) or salary for the residual period of the contract, if shorter than three months, will become payable.

Moreover, there are restrictions on the dismissal of UAE nationals, following Ministerial Decree No. 176 of 2009, “Restricting the Dismissal of UAE Nationals”.

Termination under the DIFC Employment Law

The DIFC Employment Law, as currently drafted, implicitly recognises the concept of ‘redundancy’ by providing that those “dismissed as redundant” are entitled to take reasonable time off during working hours, and before the end of the notice period, to look for new employment.

However, as at the present time, there is no statutory definition of ‘redundancy’ or any prescribed redundancy process or procedure to follow; and nor does there exist an express concept of unfair dismissal. Termination without notice is permitted but only where an employee commits an act of “misbehaviour” which is defined in broad terms to encompass where an employee’s conduct warrants termination and a reasonable employer would have terminated the employee (that is, in such circumstances).

Discrimination and fostering a diverse work environment

Protection from discrimination is expressly provided by the DIFC Employment Law. The rationale of the DIFC Employment Law is to ensure, among other things, that all employees based within, or ordinarily working within or from, the DIFC, are treated in accordance with “minimum international standards and conditions of employment.”

To succeed in a discrimination claim, the claimant must show that he or she has been subjected to differential treatment based upon either his or her gender, marital status, race, nationality or religion, mental or physical disability (protected characteristics) and that such treatment has had the net effect of either (i) imposing upon him or her burdens, obligations or disadvantages not imposed upon other persons or, (ii) limiting access to opportunities, benefits and advantages available to others.

In the case of physical or mental disability, the condition must be long-term (that is, not less than 12 months in duration).

Allied to that, there exists a positive duty on the part of the employer to accommodate the disability by provision of reasonable adjustments.

The DIFC Employment Law continues by providing that an employer shall not refuse to employ or refuse to continue to employ, or discriminate against a person regarding employment or any term or condition of employment because of a protected characteristic unless there is a bona fide occupational requirement.

The Director of Employment Standards — the officer of the DIFC Authority responsible for the administration of the DIFC Employment Law — may determine what constitutes a bona fide occupational requirement.

Its scope is extensive, covering all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion and dismissal.

Although the UAE Labour Law does not contain any express or specific anti-discrimination provisions (on the basis of gender or race or otherwise), a termination which could be shown to be based on discriminatory reasons would be viewed as an arbitrary dismissal, giving rise to a claim for compensation.

Employers should accordingly have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and promote equal opportunity between the sexes.

Consideration should therefore be given to both their policies and working practices in relation to all aspects of the employment relationship.

Employers with genuine equal opportunity attitudes that advance or support diversity will find themselves much less likely to be subjected to allegations of unlawful discrimination.

Striking the right balance is critical and, in this regard, there are recommended courses of action that can be taken including:

• Familiarisation with the relevant anti-discrimination provisions, as applicable;

• Having in place a clear and robust equal opportunities policy that is issued to all employees at every level of the company;

• Ensuring that all employees receive training on the equal opportunities policy and, in addition, that those managers and HR professionals responsible for enacting the policy receive adequate training on how to deal with complaints made under it;

• Ensuring that employment policies and practices are reviewed and audited on a regular basis in order to establish the existence of any patterns that may indicate underlying or unintentional discrimination.

For employers:

• There is no statutory definition of redundancy in the UAE Labour Law or DIFC Employment Law (and no prescribed process or procedure to follow);

• Any decision to make a particular employee or group of employees redundant should be capable of justification and, in all the circumstances, be reasonable, fair and transparent;

• The labour court may award compensation of up to three months’ remuneration should the termination be deemed by the court to have been arbitrary (under the UAE Labour Law); and

• Although the DIFC Employment Law does not currently recognise the concept of unfair dismissal, there are in place express anti-discrimination provisions;

• Implement clear and robust dismissal and equal opportunities policies to ensure that there is transparency in the workplace

For employees:

• Familiarise yourself with your employers internal policies;

• Be mindful that there areexpress anti-discrimination provisions under the DIFC Employment Law;

• Under the UAE Labour Law, termination of an unlimited-term contract must be for a “valid” reason, i.e. a reason connected with your work. A dismissal deemed arbitrary by the labour courts will result in a claim for compensation (capped at three months’ salary); and

• There are statutory entitlements due on termination including (as applicable) notice pay, accrued untaken annual leave and end of service gratuity.

KHDA’s long-term structure will govern percentage of increase

Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
The eligibility to increase fees will be based on the quality of education provided by schools as judged during inspections conducted by KHDA, in addition to an Educational Cost Index (ECI) devised by the Dubai Statistics Centre.

Dubai: Schools increasing their fees this year may do so again next year provided they have the approval of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), officials have clarified.

The new School Fees Framework is a long-term structure which will govern the size of fee hikes schools can ask of the KHDA. Schools may seek to increase their fees annually if they are eligible to do so in accordance with the set criteria, officials said.

The eligibility to increase fees will be based on the quality of education provided by schools as judged during inspections conducted by KHDA, in addition to an Educational Cost Index (ECI) devised by the Dubai Statistics Centre.

Schools rated as outstanding in the inspections will be allowed to hike fees by 6 per cent this academic year, while schools rated good will be allowed to impose a hike of 4.5 per cent, while schools deemed satisfactory and unsatisfactory will be allowed the lowest hike of 3 per cent.

According to the framework, some schools may be granted special permission by KHDA for fee hikes higher than 6 per cent.

Schools eligible for such considerations are not-for-profit and embassy schools and those investing in infrastructure that would lead to improvements in quality and directly benefit students academically. Special needs schools will also be given consideration under this category.

If a school is granted such special permission one year, then it will not be able to apply for fee hikes for the next three years, officials said.

Previous practice

For the past two years school fees in Dubai had been frozen following a government decision but for a few institutions that obtained Ministry of Education approval to hike fees.

Earlier, following the first round of school inspections in 2008-2009, fees were linked to inspection ratings with outstanding schools being allowed to raise fees by up to 16 per cent. The new fee framework can be viewed on KHDA’s website:

http://www.khda.gov.ae/Pages/En/feeframeworken.aspx.