What a ridiculous law

OK, so basically a new law has been passed that prevents companies from sacking local Emiratis unless it is for "extraordinary misconduct". The Government want to keep up the levels of locals employed and for some reason believe that this policy will “increase their productivity, performance and loyalty” - will it my butt! I don't know if I'm alone, but if I knew I could just do the absolute bare minimum with no chance of getting sacked and still taking home my full wage, I think I might just start to take it easy a bit!

I know that some Emiratis are paid very high wages for doing pretty low level jobs (and I'm talking like c£75k a year for an admin job!) so this policy is in no way going to encourage private companies to mug themselves by employing more locals than they legally have to. The Government also says:

"The new policy also stipulates that underperforming Emiratis could not be sacked but must be given more training or transferred to work more suited to their skills."

What like? Tea boy?

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Debate over impact of Emirati job protection
Salam Hafez
The National - News
20 Feb 2009

Private-sector companies are more likely to employ Emiratis because of a new government policy that protects them from being laid off, a labour official said yesterday to counter claims to the contrary. Feddah Lootah, the acting director general of the...read more...

Tech Tags: The National - News newspaper The Emirates