21/06/2021
UAE's construction workforce gets caught up job losses, unpaid salary and gratuity | Property – Gulf News
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Dubai: The workforce in the UAE construction sector is seeing more job losses as private sector led projects
continue to drop significantly. It could get worse if real estate development, which is the prime driver of
construction activity, does not pick up in the coming months.
But for that to happen, offplan sales will need to improve first – for now, these sales are running a distant second to
demand for newly ready homes or those sold in the secondary market. While a handful of Dubai’s private sector
developers have said they are considering new project launches, it won’t be enough to bring about a full scale
revival of the construction sector and the fortunes of its workforce.
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That’s not the only worry for the industry – while main and sub-contractors are shedding jobs, they are finding
they don’t have the funds to pay off the gratuity. “There is a vicious pattern – months of no salary payment
followed by termination, and then the endless wait for gratuity,” said the owner of a project services company in
Dubai. “It’s happening at the big construction firms and down the chain.
“The only option left for those who have lost their jobs is hope the gratuity gets paid off eventually. Finding a new
job immediately is next to impossible.”
NON-PAYMENT OF GRATUITY
As per the current laws, a company should cancel an employee’s visa within a month or two and settle their endof-service benefits on resignation/termination. But some employees are waiting for settlements for eight months
and more as construction firms battle funding issues.
Getting tough
Now, even if they do get a job elsewhere, these workers need to get their visa cancellation from their previous
employer. And this is where some construction firms are trying to drive a hard bargain, by telling their former
employees that they will issue the release, but only if they drop all past claims against them. Even in those cases
where salaries are pending for months and the affected employees have taken the legal route to get paid.
What does the law say?
UAE laws are explicit on the payment of gratuity and whatever it is that an employer owes its staff, existing or past.
This applies to businesses that are in liquidation as well, which is the case with Arabtec, the UAE’s biggest
contractor by some distance, which late last year finally decided going into liquidation is the only option left. It
arrived at the decision after years or mounting losses crippled its situation, and which made it difficult for a new
investor to come in and try and turn it around.
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