Dubai launches new system to address complaints for government workers

Dubai has launched a new system to regulate the sanctions, grievances and complaints for government employees.

The new resolution, launched by Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum “aims to create a strong framework for addressing the challenges facing employees and applying disciplinary measures in a neutral way”, a statement said.

The regulations apply to civilian employees of government entities, and oversee every administrative violation or complaint for which a final decision has not been issued.

All violators will be subject to penalties unless he/she proves that the administrative violation was made because he or she executed the orders of his managers despite informing them that the order is an administrative violation.

In this case, the person who issued the order will be held responsible for the violation.

As per the regulations, the director general of each Dubai government entity is authorised to issue a decision to set up one or more committees to adjudicate the violations and issue a decision within 30 days.

The director general of the government entity can extend the deadline for a similar period only once, unless the employee is referred to a competent judicial authority, the statement said.

In this case, the committee must issue its decision within 15 working days of the date of receiving the decision or the court ruling issued to the employee.

The committee should submit a report to the director general in case it fails to issue a decision during the specified period highlighting the reasons for not doing so.

According to the new regulation, resignation will also not prevent an employee from being subject to disciplinary action for violations committed by him.

The disciplinary actions can include written warning and deduction of salary for upto a maximum of 15 days for each violation per month.

Total salary deducted will not exceed 60 days per year.

In case of absence without justification, the employee’s salary can be deducted. In case the absence exceeds 15 consecutive working days or 21 working days per year, the employee will be dismissed from his position.

In case he submits a justification, the committee will review the justification and take a decision within 15 days, failing which the justification will be considered valid.

All decisions issued during the period from January 1, 2019 to the date of issuance of this resolution are considered valid, the statement said.

The HR department of the Dubai government is tasked with training members of the committees, it added.