ABU DHABI // More than 700,000 workers are still not getting their salaries paid into their bank accounts, despite the January 1 deadline for employers to ensure they do.
Companies not registered on the Wages Protection System (WPS) can no longer get labour cards for new staff. Within months, they will be subject to a Dh10,000 fine and black points, which will make labour cards more expensive for them when they do sign up.
Introduced in September 2009, the WPS provides a bridge between the Ministry of Labour, employers, banks and money exchange centres to ensure that salaries are paid on time and in full. It was brought in after complaints that employees were not being paid, in some cases, for more than three months.
Of the four million workers registered at the ministry, 3,300,000 now get WPS payslips each month. However, more than one in six still do not.
Big companies have been quicker to join the system and 95 per cent of firms that employ more than 100 people have signed up, according to Humaid al Suwaudi, the undersecretary at the ministry.
Small firms have been more reluctant. More than 40 per cent of companies with a staff smaller than 100 have yet to join. In total, 150,000 businesses - more than half the total - have still to enter the system. "They say they have a problem with registering, but we have prepared to help all of them," Mr al Suwaidi said.
Some bosses have complained that in their areas, such as Masafi in Ras al Khaimah, banks are few and far between, making the payment process a hassle.
Mr al Suwaidi said the ministry was standing ready to help any companies solve such problems. But some employers are still to be convinced.
"In my company, there are only two employees," said Ahmed, a company owner from Sharjah. "Why can I not pay them directly?"
"Umm Shreif", an Emirati company owner, complained that she had been prevented from leaving the country by immigration officials at Dubai airport because she had not paid her staff for two months. They had been on holiday, she said - an excuse that cut little ice with the ministry, which told her she should have paid them in advance.
