The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) revealed that, since the beginning of the year, until September 2016, it has responded to 1020 requests for legal consultations and enquiries submitted by employees of federal ministries and entities, local and private organizations and the public within and outside UAE. The legal services related to human resources policies, legislations and regulations in federal ministries and independent entities.
Badriya Al Ayoubi, Director of Policies and Legal Affairs in FAHR said that the legal consultation team in FAHR had dealt with 1020 requests for consultation and legal enquiries submitted by federal ministries and independent entities, as well as organizations within and outside UAE since the beginning of 2016 until the of Q3. She added that FAHR legal team received 489 enquiries from ministries, 404 from federal entities and 136 from local and private organizations and the public.
She noted that 45% (457) of the legal enquiries submitted to FAHR were delivered via the email address designated to the legal team, while 26% (260) enquiries were received via the Online Support Service Office launched by FAHR in 2014.
According to Al Ayoubi, most of these enquiries focused on appointment, contracts, allowances, transfer, delegation, loan, promotions, leaves, workplace violations, official working hours, termination of service, etc.
19% of inquiries on leaves
The Director of Policies and Legal Affairs stated that 20% (212) of the total enquiries delivered by employees of federal ministries and entities focused on allowances and increments, while 19% (190) focused on types and rules related to federal government leaves, and only 7%, or 51 of the total enquiries on termination.
Most Requests for Consultations Submitted by employees of Education and Health
Badriya Al Ayoubi pointed out that the Ministry of Health and Prevention registered the highest demand for legal advice services during the last 9 months, with 110 inquiries, followed by the Ministry of Education with 80, and Ministries of Justice and Human Resources & Emiratization in third place with 34 inquiries each.
Regarding request for consultancy services among federal government employees, Badriya noted that the Federal Customs Authority topped the list with 36 inquiries, followed by Civil Aviation with 35, and Shiekh Zaid Housing Program with 32 legal advice requests.
She said: “The in-house consulting team usually studies the enquiries submitted by employees of the ministries and federal bodies with regard to federal government human resources laws, regulations, legislations and policies. The team’s ultimate goal is to unify legal opinions on all issues presented to FAHR and to document for the legal principles in order to simplify work procedures in the future.”
She emphasized the keenness of FAHR to simplify the communication mechanism for federal ministries and entities wishing to obtain legal advice with the legal consultation team, and provided more than ten different channels for communication with the team. These channels include the online website of the Authority: www.fahr.gov.ae , email address, smart applications, the “Remedy System”, the human resources automation system (OPA), social media (Twitter), official correspondence, legal clinics, live chat, which aims at providing direct contact with all employees with the feature of immediate response to enquiries in addition to the free toll number 600525524 and fax 04/2953444.
New channel for legal enquiries
Badriya Al Ayoubi highlighted the importance of the channel recently launched by FAHR to enable human resources departments in ministries and federal entities to receive and respond to legal advice requests through the Online Support Services Office, an innovative initiative of FAHR to assist ministries and federal authorities in solving electronic problems they may face while using the HR Management Information System "BAYANATI", Electronic Approvals Service and Report Explorer.
She said: “The new channel is available around the clock via the Online Support Services Office on the World Wide Web for all human resources departments in the ministries and federal entities, so that they can enter the system using the password allocated to them.
“The new channel provides three major services to customers: requesting legal advice and receiving responses, lodging objections to decisions made by grievance committees in ministries and federal entities, and applying to hold training workshops for employees and officials in the ministries and federal bodies to familiarize them with the HR systems, legislation and policies applicable at the federal government level. In addition, it will help in providing practical training on how to deal with certain HR systems applied in the ministries and federal bodies, e.g. BAYANATI System, Qudrat and Ma’aref Initiative for Federal Government’s preferred training providers.”
Legal Team
It should be noted that FAHR had formed a legal consulting team in late 2010 as part of its keenness to create a sound legal culture among the employees of ministries and federal agencies about human resource legislation, policies and regulations applied in the Federal Government, by responding to inquiries and questions related to legal issues.
FAHR also launched in early 2015, the Oracle Policy Automation (OPA) System under the title "Ask the legal expert," and made it available on its website, in order to respond to inquiries and legal advice received from the ministries, federal and local entities, as well as private organizations and the public (within or outside the state), about HR policies, systems, and legislation implemented in the Federal Government institutions, in an effective and interactive manner, to ensure access to legal advice timely and accurately.