The UAE announced a new insurance scheme for workers and employers. Starting on October 15, companies will no longer be required to pay a lump-sum DH3,000 deposit for each worker. Instead, businesses will pay DH60 per year for each employee.
The deposit scheme is intended to ensure workers receive unpaid wages, end-of-service, gratuity, as well as holiday and overtime allowance if their employers are unable to pay. Workers are now protected up to Dh20,000, whereas previously payouts were capped at Dh3,000 and did not cover as many employee entitlements.
The reform will return DH14 billion in existing deposits to companies.