ABU DHABI: Laborers paid less than Dh2,000 per month will enjoy free accommodation provided by their employers, says the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratization.
However, the Decree only applies only to establishments hiring over 50 workers, reported WAM.
According to a statement issued by Saqr Ghobash, Minister of Human Resources and Emiratization, the Decree will come into force in December.
The Decree confirms that labor accommodations with less than five hundred tenants must meet general criteria and services standards as stipulated in a Ministerial Decree issued in 2014, similarly, the above applies for areas that house over 500 tenants according to the Decree issued by the Cabinet in 2009.
The Minister of Human Resources and Emiratization grants local authorities the ability to set rules and regulations that benefit workers’ well-being through requiring facilities that employ less than 50 workers who earn more than Dh2,000 monthly to enjoy proper accommodations as well, however, by optionally doing so, facilities shall expect regular inspectional visit to ensure housing standards are met.
The Decree shall sanction all necessary measures to take against facilities that choose to disobey and violate suggested terms and regulations.
“The Decree, which demands that facilities that employ over 50 workers earning two thousand dirhams or less per month provide proper accommodation to those workers, came following recent studies related to the labour market,” Ghobash was quoted as saying by WAM.
“Experts spent several months studying the living conditions of those workers, who have been listed in the ministry’s classifications system as low-skill laborers. The ministry follows up on the workers’ housing via inspectional visits and takes legal action against violating facilities,” he added.
The minister had announced in January that companies which fail to provide labor accommodation short of international standards and requirements will not be granted new work permits.
“We want to ensure that laborers are not cheated of their rights, and that their living conditions are comfortable, sanitary and humane,” he was quoted as saying by Gulf News.
