In UAE, absconding refers to a situation in which a worker remains absent from the work for a consecutive period of 7 days without notifying the employer. For absconding, it is important that the employee must not have any legitimate reason of doing so. In other words, if the reason of employee’s absence is legitimate, the case of absconding will not be made. The UAE labour law put an obligation on the employer to report the genuine cases of absconding within 3 months to the labour department.
Absconding Report
The procedure for filing the report is mentioned in Ministerial Resolution No. (721) for 2006 of Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 (UAE Labour Law). In this report, all the details related to the absconded worker are provided.
For filing an absconding report, certain documents are required. These include passport copy, emirates id copy, labour establishment card copy and trade license copy. If the employee is residing in the UAE, a print of a personal file from eDNRD site shall be taken to prove this. While filing it, the original e-signature card of the authorised signatory is also very important.
Process for Filing the Report
At first, the employer needs to type an abscond application from the Tas’heel Centre. An application fee of AED 53 is charged for this. The application is normally approved within 1-2 days and then the approved print out is submitted at the Labour department.
Along with the report, the employer also needs to submit the evidence that the company has paid all the dues belonging to the workers and there are no pending labour fees. A bank guarantee amounting to 3,000 AED also needs to be provided for each and every employee who absconded from the work.
The labour department may not accept the report in the following cases-
The impugned worker has already filed a complaint before the ministry of Labour or any other court.
If the reason for the absence of the worker is legitimate.
The employer know about the whereabouts of the employee
On the occurrence of a force majeure event the worker was not in a condition to inform the employer.
If the report is not accepted, then the bank guarantee may be forfeited by the labour department.
As per Article 128 of the UAE Labour Law, If it is proved that the employee has actually absconded, then a 1 year labour ban could be imposed on the employee. He can’t seek employment in the UAE for the next year, even though the earlier employer gave his consent to it.
However, if the employer doesn’t submit the absconding report within 3 months or the worker breaches the work permit, the following penalties will be imposed-
The worker’s sponsorship will be cancelled.
The employer had to pay the worker’s travel expenses and sponsorship cancellation fees.
The company may be categorised as a level “C” company.
4.The company and its owner can be fined with an amount of 10,000 AED.
Recently, the ministry of Labour, with an objective to encourage the employer to submit the absconding report, came out with a circular. It states that the company may be charged with a fine up to 5,000 AED if they haven’t renewed the labour permit which expired more than a year ago. So, as an employer, you should be highly careful with the absconding report and file it in a timely manner.
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