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STANDARD EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT

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STANDARD EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT

Basic Info

  • Applicable Region UAE
  • Available Languages
    English
    English & Arabic
  • Document No 0000211
  • Version V 1.0
  • Last Updated 07-06-2023
  • Reviews 0
Document Summary

According to article 8 of the Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021, the Employment Contract can only be a limited contract with a term that does not exceed 3 years.

The Limited Employment Contract is a fixed-term contract and is normally linked to the duration of the UAE residency visa (i.e., two or three years, depending on the location of the employer). It will automatically terminate at the end of the term unless terminated earlier by either party or renewed by both parties.

This a general template and users are advised to refer to the Federal Decree-Law No (33) of 2021 and the rules and regulations of the freezone under which they are incorporated (if applicable) prior to executing this template.

Description

This Employment Contract contains a number of special clauses that cover standard employment terms such as starting date of employment, compensation, work hours, and job title.

This Executive Employment Contract contains the following clauses:

-        Term

-        Remuneration

-        Hours and Leave

-        Renewal

-        Termination

-        Travel Tickets

-        Entire Agreement

-        Execution and Counterparts

-        Governing Law and Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction

This letter is intended for use in the United Arab Emirates.

It is important to note that certain authorities make it mandatory to use their own employment contract template and that includes the ministry of labour.

The main law that regulates the employment relationship in the UAE is Decree-Law No.  33 of 2021 Regulating Labour Relations, (Labour Law), and the applicable ministerial orders implementing these provisions.

This applies to all employees (including foreign nationals) working in the UAE, apart from the following categories of workers:

  • Employees of the federal and local governmental entities.
  • Members of the armed forces, police and security officers.
  • Domestic workers.
  • Employees working for a company with a place of business in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). These employees are subject to the DIFC Employment Law No. 2 of 2019.
  • Employees working for a company with a place of business in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM). These employees are subject to the ADGM Employment Regulations.

Employees (including foreign nationals) working in one of the many free zones in the UAE (with the exception of those working in the DIFC and ADGM) are subject to the Labour Law and the employment regulations introduced in the relevant free zone. If the free zone regulations are inconsistent with the Labour Law, the Labour Law provisions take precedence. However, this does not apply if the Labour Law is less favourable than the relevant free zone regulations.

The parties can choose the governing law that applies to their contract. However, in practice, during litigation, the UAE courts generally assume jurisdiction as long as the employees are not employed by entities in the DIFC or ADGM (where the applicable courts in the DIFC or ADGM assume jurisdiction).

Before Execution

- The information on this front page or contained in the headers and footers of this instrument are for guidance purposes only.

- Please delete this front page together with the information contained in the headers, footers and the endnotes prior to circulating this letter. Where square brackets […] and highlights are used in the document, it indicates that there is missing or incomplete information which will need to be incorporated prior to signature.

- Please remove the square brackets and all highlighting prior to signature.