Dhs500,000 fine for companies violating Emiratisation targets

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The UAE Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation announced the application of financial fines that may amount to Dhs500,000 against companies that are proven to have circumvented the Emiratisation targets by reducing the numbers or amending their employment classification or any other form of fraud in order to avoid the Emiratisation targets.

The move is in line with the Cabinet’s decision. No. 44 of 2023 amending some provisions of Cabinet Resolution No. 95 of 2022 regarding violations and administrative penalties related to the initiatives and programs of the Emirati Cadres Competitiveness Council “Nafis”.

The decision specified a fine of Dhs100,000 against the company that is proven to have committed, for the first time, a violation of defrauding the Emiratisation targets by reducing the numbers or modifying the classification of its workers, or any other form of fraud, while the value of the fine when committing the aforementioned violation for the second time is Dhs300,000.

The authorities said the amount of fine will reach Dhs500,000 when the company commits the same violation for a third time or at any of the following issues.

The company that commits the aforementioned fraud violation will be obligated to achieve the required localization targets according to its real situation before the fraud.

The Cabinet’s decisions regarding Emiratisation targets require achieving a growth in Emiratisation by 1% of the skilled jobs in companies that employ 50 employees or more before the first of July, provided that the growth rate reaches 2% before the end of the year 2023, and achieve a growth rate of 10% by the end of the year 2026.

Financial contributions will be collected from companies that do not meet the targets at a value of Dhs42,000 for each citizen who was not appointed according to the semi-annual targets this year.