‘Can my employer legally check my work emails?’

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My boss has informed my team that he will be checking our work emails every once in awhile to ensure we aren't doing anything wrong. While I am happy to copy him in on the messages we send, this seems somewhat excessive and intrusive. Most of us work long hours, so we also use emails for the odd non-work thing for convenience and to save time. Is it possible to tell me where we stand legally upon this issue? PH, Dubai

That is a legal issue, therefore i sought the guidance of Thenji Molo, legal director and co-head of the employment department at DWF. She advised: “In the UAE, the right to privacy is a simple right that's protected by various bits of legislation, which include the UAE Constitution, the UAE Penal Code and the Cybercrimes Law. The Cybercrimes Law makes it an offence to use IT to infringe on privacy rights.

“As a general principle, an employer has the ability to monitor emails, provided the business has obtained the employee’s consent and the surveillance is strictly for work-related reasons. Used, this consent is obtained within an employment contract or by the employee’s acknowledgement of the staff handbook.

“If the employee uses the task emails for personal use, then it is recommended that permission is sought to produce a plainly marked personal folder for private and family matters in order to maintain and preserve privacy. Companies should adhere to the law as there are hefty penalties for breach of privacy, such as imprisonment and fines as high as Dh3 million.”

I advise that PH checks the company handbook, assuming there is one, and the full employment contract. In every cases, despite having legal protection, it really is smart to keep work and personal correspondence separate.

I have already been offered a fresh job with a reasonably large company, but I've some concerns about the final offer. I was actually told that the income will be a total of Dh36,000 per month, which can be an average for this sort of position, however in the contract of employment, there exists a basic wage of Dh18,000, with the others of it made up of varied allowances such as for example housing and transport. I am not totally happy with this as I'd have expected the split to be explained at the interview, not as of this late stage, especially since I know that many jobs in my field now offer basic earnings only.

Is there anything in the UAE Labour Law that states how the total salary ought to be split? I assume that the final gratuity is based on the essential salary, but can allowances also be included? DN, Abu Dhabi

There is nothing in the UAE Lab­our Law that specifies the split between basic earnings and allowances, so the split reaches the discretion of the company but it is expected to be reasonable and justifiable. The end-of-service gratuity is calculated on the essential salary, so companies shouldn't keep this artificially low to reduce their future liabilities. If indeed they wish, any employer pays an increased gratuity figure, but that is purely at their discretion in fact it is rare for just about any company to pay any longer than they must.

The end-of-service gratuity is calculated on the basic salary, so companies should not keep this artificially low to reduce their future liabilities

Keren Bobker

That said, the general expectation is that the essential salary would not be significantly less than 60 per cent of the full total, but if it is less than 50 %, the employee could have a solid claim for unfair treatment with the Labour Court if indeed they want to challenge that. But there is absolutely no guarantee a claim would be upheld in fact it is greater to agree an appropriate split first.

Is it possible to tell me if the law states whether I am entitled to compassionate leave? My cousin died recently and due to current travel restrictions, I had not been able to take annual leave to visit home to see my children or head to his funeral. We were close as we was raised together. On the day I heard the news, I took a day off and then another day seven days later on the day of the funeral. I let my boss know each time, but when I acquired back to work following the funeral, I was told that the times were part of my total annual leave. Is this correct? ML, Dubai

There is nothing in the UAE Labour Law that identifies compassionate leave or that states any employer must allow a worker to take additional days of leave. In conditions like this, it is purely down to the employer’s discretion, although I would like to think that most employers will be sympathetic, especially at the moment. Some private companies have provisions for compassionate leave, as will be mentioned in a company handbook, but that is completely a company decision.

In this case, the employer is legally correct in insisting that the times are part of gross annual leave. 
Source: https://www.thenational.ae

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