UAE officials have announced changes to the country’s guarantees system for domestic workers. Under the changes, domestic workers will now be able to be replaced or the hiring fees fully or partially refunded within the two-year recruitment contract.

The guarantee for those domestic workers who are recruited through the Tadbeer system has been extended to two years, in line with the Implementing Regulations to the Domestic Workers’ Law. The Law had previously granted a six-month guarantee period during which time an employer could get their recruitment fees refunded or replace a worker.

Under the new rules full recruitment fees will be refunded or an employee is replaced as an employer may want during the first six month of the contract or the probationary period in the event of termination of the contract by an employee illegally, quitting without an acceptable reason, the employee being unfit or unable to carry out their duties as required and agreed on.

After the probationary period and up to the end of the recruitment contract, part of the recruitment fees will be refunded if an employee terminates the contract illegally or quits without an acceptable reason. The amount refunded will be calculated on the basis of the remaining period of the contract. Recruitment firms will have to refund the fees to an employer within a month of the date an employer returns an employee or reports their absence from work. Where an employer specifically named a domestic worker to be recruited and the recruiting firm hired them, no recruitment fees will be refunded.