Eid holidays for private sector employees announced

Private sector workers will get a two-day holiday for Eid Al Fitr, the Ministry of Labour announced on Sunday.

ABU DHABI // Private sector workers will likely receive a paid holiday for Eid Al Fitr if they are working on Friday or Saturday.

The UAE’s Minister of Labour, Saqr Ghobash, said in a ministerial circular that private sector employees will get paid holidays for Eid for the first and second day of the Islamic month of Shawwal.

This is expected to fall on Friday and Saturday. Normal work will resume on Sunday, what is believed to be the third day of Shawwal.

If the first day of Eid falls on Saturday, then Saturday and Sunday will be paid holiday, with work resuming on Monday.

Government employees will get a long weekend for Eid, the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources announced on Sunday, as reported earlier.

The holiday for federal ministries and departments will begin on Thursday, July 16, and work will resume on Tuesday, July 21.

The Islamic Crescent Observation Project (ICOP) has said that astronomically Eid Al Fitr will be on Friday, July 17, in most Muslim countries, considering that sighting of the moon is a condition for the beginning of the month of Shawwal.

Mohammed Shoukat Awdah, head of ICOP, said that most Islamic countries will witness the new moon of Shawwal on Thursday, July 16.

However the official moon sighting committee, the body responsible for overseeing the sighting of the crescent moon, will officially announce the first day of the holidays later this week.