Equal work for equal pay in the UAE

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS IN THE UAE

Equal work for equal pay been law since 25 September 2020 when Federal Law No. 06 of 2020 was issued which mandated equal pay for women in the private sector. Essentially the legislation states,

“It shall be prohibited to discriminate against persons on the grounds of race, colour, sex, religion, national original, ethnic origin, or disability, in such a way as to weaken equal opportunities or impair equal access to, continuation of, or enjoyment of rights associated with, employment.”

and

“Women shall receive the same salary as men for the same work, or a work of equal value”.

We find that there is a common (and flawed) misconception in the local market surrounding equal work for equal pay. Namely, that it only relates to the same job- so if a male and female are both Creditor Clerks, with similar experience, they should be paid the same. Yes, but what if one is a Creditors Clerk and the other is Debtors Clerk. Are both these two jobs the same? Are they of equal value? Are they substantially the same?

SAME

EQUAL VALUE

SUBTANTIALLY THE SAME

identical or interchangeable

accorded the same value

sufficiently similar

Unfortunately, the UAE President announced in 2020 that “the procedures, controls and standards necessary for evaluating work of equal value…” would be announced but to our knowledge, no further announcements have been made. Given this, we will use our experience in other countries where similar legislation has been passed, to provide employers with some guidelines and processes which should be implemented:

Step 1:

To identify which jobs are the same or of equal value, you must grade all positions in the organisation. Grading software has been specifically designed to immediately highlight any roles that are:
a) Identical; and
b) Similar or substantively the same

This allows you to immediately identify those roles which, independently of the individual’s filling the role, should be subject to the equal work for equal pay legislation.

Step 2:

Critically review the individuals/ groups of individuals within each grade to determine if the employment practices they are subjected to, can in any way be determined to infringe on their right to receive equal pay.

The legislation of most countries dictates that work performed by an employee is considered:

The same as the work of another employee if their work is identical or interchangeable; and

Substantially the same as the work of another employee, if the work performed by the employees is sufficiently similar that they can reasonably be said to be performing the same job, even if their work is not identical or interchangeable; and

Of the same value as the work of another employee in a different job if their respective grades are similar- for example all Paterson Grade C4 or Hay Level 15 employees should be receiving similar remuneration irrespective of their gender.

There is little doubt that the only way to comply with the UAE legislation or to prevent a disgruntled employee filing a complaint with the MoHRE, is to grade jobs.

Job Grading is simply the process of using a formal system and/or methodology to determine the relative value of all jobs in the organisation, which is objective, consistent and easily defendable. The normal inputs into determining a grade include the following:

To assist our UAE clients, we have developed a cost-effective grading tool.

AxioJob is a cloud-based job grading system which was designed with simplicity and ease of use in mind. The system was built on the premise of empowering HR professionals to do their own job grading without having to purchase other (more expensive) grading systems or without having to pay for external consultants to grade positions, thus reducing costs.

System Overview

Should you want more information or a demonstration of the system:

Please view our short overview:

Or contact:

to arrange a call to discuss our grading tool in more detail.

Services

Payroll

Benefits

Reward

Equal work for equal pay in the UAE

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS IN THE UAE

Step 1:

Step 2:

To assist our UAE clients, we have developed a cost-effective grading tool.

System Overview

Services

Need Any Consultations

Quick Links

Corporate Governance

Our Location

Subscribe Our Newsletter

COOKIE POLICY

Welcome to our website.

1. Introduction

2. What Are Cookies

3. How We Use Cookies

4. Your Cookie Choices

5. Third-Party Cookies

6. Updates to This Policy

7. Contact Us