The president of the UAE recently approved Decree Law No.6 2020 (the Decree), expanding existing equal pay provisions.
The Decree was issued on 25 August 2020, and should enter into effect one month after its publication in the UAE Official Gazette.
Key details
The Decree amends Article 32 of the Federal Labor law which previously required employers to pay male and female employees the same wage for the same work undertaken. The Decree expands this obligation by requiring that employers pay a female employee the same wage as the male employee if she is doing work of equal value. Therefore, in order to trigger an Article 32 obligation, the work performed by the male and the female employee does not need to be identical but can now be similar.