Workers urged to register in UAE unemployment insurance scheme before October 1 deadline

Failure to sign up could lead to fines of Dh400

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  The UAE has introduced a new programme that means people who lose their job can receive a basic cash payment each month. All photos: Getty Images

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  If an employee loses their job they will receive a monthly payment of 60 per cent of their salary, up to Dh20,000.

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  Domestic workers, anyone working on temporary contracts, under 18s and retirees are exempt from the new policy.

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  The monthly payment while unemployed is to help people pay their basic living costs.

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  If the terminated employee does not find another job after a certain amount of time, the financial support will stop.

There is just one week left for workers in the UAE to register for the country's unemployment insurance scheme, or else face a fine of Dh400 ($108).

The social security support programme, which was announced in May last year, is a financial safety net that will pay Emiratis and UAE residents a cash pay out for three months if their employment is terminated.

The deadline for registration for the programme is Sunday, October 1.

Responsibility for registration is to up each employee, but the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation said on Wednesday there was an option for employers to register their staff in the system.

“We urge eligible employees to register in the unemployment insurance system before October 1 to avoid the fines. Employers now have the option to register their employees in the scheme,” the ministry said in a statement.

“It remains the employee's responsibility to subscribe not the employer, who incurs no additional costs.”

The ministry told The National that 5,534,027 workers have signed up for the UAE's unemployment insurance scheme since it was launched at the start of the year.

The policy was introduced to provide a vital safety net for people in the public and private sector if they lose their job.

To receive the unemployment financial support, employees must be registered with the scheme and pay an insurance premium based on their monthly salary.

How does the insurance scheme work?

The scheme covers workers from the federal and private sectors, including UAE citizens and residents as well as employees working in free zones.

Those who own the company at which they work, domestic staff, temporary contract workers, under 18s and retirees who receive a pension but have since started working again are all exempt from signing up.

The nominal subscription fee does not exceed Dh5 per month for workers earning basic monthly salaries of Dh16,000 or less, nor Dh10 per month for workers earning more than Dh16,000.

Workers also have the right to subscribe to additional insurance benefits.

Subscriptions can be completed at www.iloe.ae.

To be eligible for compensation in the case of a job loss, the insured person must have been registered in the scheme for no less than 12 consecutive months.

They must also submit an application requesting compensation within 30 days of leaving work, provided their employment was not terminated for disciplinary reasons, they have not resigned, or the compensation request was not found to be fraudulent.

Compensation payments are then suspended from the date the worker begins a new job or leaves the country.

Compensation will be paid for a maximum of three months from the date of an employee’s job loss and will be calculated at 60 per cent of their basic salary for a maximum payment of Dh20,000 ($5,445) per month, according to the ministry.

For example, if you earn a basic salary of Dh10,000 per month and you lose your job, you will receive 60 per cent of that for three months, or Dh6,000.