Emiratisation drive:

This currently affects only companies with a minimum of 50 employees. As of Jan 1st a minimum of 2% of the number of employees need to be Emiratis otherwise fines will have to be paid amongst others an administrate fine of AED 6,000 per month for each Emirati falling short of the quota. But careful: Emiratis need to be employed in skilled jobs; unskilled work done by Emiratis is not acceptable as per the Emiratisation drive regulations.

Involuntary Loss of Employment Insurance (ILOE):

Initially introduced as voluntary insurance it became now mandatory for employees to register for the ILOE scheme.

The UAE’s Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) first announced the Unemployment Insurance Scheme for all government and private sector employees back in May 2022.

Official information retrieved from the ILOE website can be found in the attached info sheet.
Key points:
– [ ] It is – at least for the time being – the responsibility of the employee to register for the insurance
– [ ] Deadline for registration is June 30th, 2023
– [ ] Employees who fail to sign up can be fined AED 400; this will happen through a deduction in the wage protection system
– [ ] Exempted from signing up are pensioners, domestic helpers, temporary workers, juvenile employees (below the age of 18), and investors (those who work in their own company).
– [ ] Official webpage: https://iloe.ae/

Two categories of unemployment insurance are available, depending on the worker’s salary.

UAE unemployment insurance Category A

Category A costs AED5 per month. It can be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually.

This category of insurance is open to any employee who has a monthly salary of AED16,000 a month or below.

In the event of losing their job, UAE workers would be entitled to 60 per cent of their average basic salary, calculated on an average of the six months leading up to unemployment.

The sum is capped at AED10,000 per month and is payable for three consecutive months.

The limit on unemployment insurance in this category, then, would be AED30,000 ($8,169) to be paid out on the annual fee of AED60.

UAE unemployment insurance Category B

Category B costs AED10 per month. It can be paid monthly, quarterly, or annually.

This category of insurance is open to any employee who has a monthly salary above AED16,000 a month.

In the event of losing their job, UAE workers would be entitled to 60 per cent of their average basic salary, calculated on an average of the six months leading up to unemployment.

The sum is capped at AED20,000 per month and is payable for three consecutive months.

The limit on unemployment insurance in this category, then, would be AED60,000 ($16,338) to be paid out on the annual fee of AED120.

Insured amounts will not be applicable if the employee was dismissed for disciplinary reasons under the Labour Relations Law and Human Resources Law, in addition to any applicable legislation.

As has been previously reported on Arabian Business, the insured compensation will not be given if there has been fraud or deceit involved in the claim or if the listed place of employment is fictitious.

Fines and penalties will be issued in this case.

If the individual finds a job during the period of compensation entitlement, the payment will cease.

The status of employees in free zones is unclear; I heard in an interview on Dubai Eye 103.8 that employees of free zones are currently exempted from signing up to ILOE. However, if they are permitted to sign up voluntarily is unclear. If you work in a Freezone you might want to clarify this point with the respective Freezone authority.