SHARJAH // Two masked raiders have been arrested after holding up staff at petrol stations throughout the emirate armed with guns and knives, police said yesterday. In the latest robbery, the two men attacked staff at a petrol station and demanded they hand over the day's takings. The two Emiratis were also involved in stealing luxury cars with tinted windows that were used for the robberies, a police spokesman said. "They used knives and were very smart to conduct such robberies without being noticed by other people in such public places," the spokesman added.
After a number of robberies police were finally able to identify the two men. The first to be arrested assisted police in finding his partner. The police said the men later confessed to a number of petrol station robberies and car thefts, and said that unemployment had forced them into crime. The two men have been referred to public prosecutors. ykakande@thenational.ae
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The government has taken an increasingly tough line against companies that fail to pay employees on time. Three years ago, the Cabinet passed a decree allowing the government to halt the granting of work permits to companies with wage backlogs.
The new measures passed by the Cabinet in 2016 were an update to the Wage Protection System, which is in place to track whether a company pays its employees on time or not.
If wages are 10 days late, the new measures kick in and the company is alerted it is in breach of labour rules. If wages remain unpaid for a total of 16 days, the authorities can cancel work permits, effectively shutting off operations. Fines of up to Dh5,000 per unpaid employee follow after 60 days.
Despite those measures, late payments remain an issue, particularly in the construction sector. Smaller contractors, such as electrical, plumbing and fit-out businesses, often blame the bigger companies that hire them for wages being late.
The authorities have urged employees to report their companies at the labour ministry or Tawafuq service centres — there are 15 in Abu Dhabi.
