As per Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Employment Relationships, the ‘UAE Labour Law’, an employer or their representative may impose any of the following disciplinary penalties on a worker who violates the provisions of the law or its implementing regulations:
Cabinet Resolution No. 1 of 2022 on the Implementation Regulation of Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 (PDF, 652 KB), outlines the rules for imposing disciplinary sanctions on the workers as follows:
Any employer with 50 or more workers must establish a clear system for complaints and grievances, either displayed prominently or made available through other mechanisms. This system must state that employees have the right to raise complaints or grievances to the employer or their representative, and that responses must be provided in writing within a specified timeframe.
Work regulations
Article 14 of the above Executive Regulations requires employers hiring 50 workers or more to adopt internal work regulations covering areas such as work instructions, penalties, promotions and rewards, and procedures for terminating employment. Employers must inform workers of these regulations by any available means and in a language they understand.
According to Article 40 of the ‘UAE Labour Law’, a worker may be suspended temporarily if he/she is charged with deliberate commission of a crime against life, property, honour, honesty or of carrying out a strike. The suspension shall begin since notification of the incident to the competent authorities until a decision is issued.
The worker shall not be entitled to his/her wages during the suspension period. If he/she is cleared of the accusation of the crime, or if it is decided to not prosecute him/her, he/she shall be reinstated and paid the full wages for the suspension period.
However, if the employer wants to conduct a disciplinary investigation, he/she may suspend the worker temporarily for a maximum period of 30 days. During the suspension, the worker will be entitled for a half of his/her wage. If no case was established against the worker, then the employer will have to pay him/her the wage in full for the suspension period.
03 Sep 2025