UAE Employers - Changes to the UAE Working Week in force January 2022

This article provides a brief update on the recent announcement made by the UAE Government on Tuesday 7 December 2021 with respect to changes to the working week in the UAE.

• UAE Government employees are moving to a 4.5 day week with a half day Friday and the new weekend as Saturday and Sunday from 1 January 2022.
• Schools in the UAE will also be operating Monday to Friday.
• UAE Private sector employers are not obliged to change their working week and have flexibility under the new Labour Law to decide which day or days constitute the weekend. No changes to working hours are required. This has been confirmed in an announcement from the Minister of Human Resources and Emiratisation.
• In order to align with the UAE Government and schools, we expect most private sector employers to move their working week from Sunday to Thursday to Monday to Friday (with no reduction in total weekly working hours).
• Private sector employers may wish to consider the wishes of Muslim employees who want to attend Friday prayers (starting at 1.15pm each week). Some employers may allow working from home on Fridays and for those wishing to attending Friday prayers to not work on Friday afternoons but to make up the working hours in the Monday to Friday morning period.

Immediate Next Steps for UAE Private Sector Employers:

• Inform employees of the changes and when it will come into effect.
• Review employment contracts and policies that may need to be amended (in particular, references to the Sunday to Thursday week).
• Consider what arrangements may need to be made for employees not wishing to work on Friday afternoons for religious or other reasons.
• This may be a good opportunity to consider creating or updating flexible/hybrid working policies.

For any queries relating to this and other general UAE employment related matters, please do not hesitate to contact David McDonald.