Waheed Al-Hashimi, Director of the Department of Policies and Legal Affairs in FAHR pointed out that the legal consultation team in FAHR responded to 1153 requests for consultation and legal enquiries submitted by federal ministries and independent entities during last year, 353 of which were submitted during the first quarter of 2015.

141 Enquiries through FAHR Smart Application

Waheed Al-Hashimi pointed out that 63% of the legal enquiries submitted to FAHR during last year were delivered via the email address designated to the legal consultancies team which amounted to 728 enquiries while only 12% were delivered via FAHR smart application, amounting to 141.

He indicated that most of these enquiries focused on certain issues such as appointment, contracts, allowances, official working hours, delegation and service termination and others.

7% of the Enquiries Focused on Promotions

      He stated that 22% of the total enquiries concentrated on allowances and increments delivered by employees of federal ministries and entities, which amounted to 256 enquiries. 16% focused on types and rules related to federal government leaves while enquiries about promotions amounted to 86 enquiries that is only 7% of the total enquiries.

Most Requests for Consultations Submitted by Ministry of Health Employees

Waheed Al-Hashimi pointed out that the Ministry of Health submitted the most requests for legal advice services amounting to 207 inquiries, followed by the Ministry of Education, 134 inquiries, followed by the Ministry of Labor with a total 39 inquiries.

On the level of federal employees, the employees of Sheikh Zayed Housing Program came first by submitting 29 enquiries followed by the employees of the Federal Electricity and Water Authority who submitted 27 enquiries then the employees of the General Civil Aviation Authority who submitted 23 enquiries.

He pointed out that the team usually studies the enquiries submitted by the employees of federal ministries and entities 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.

He 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 accordingly proceeded to provide 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), 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.

The authority has formed the legal consultation team toward the end of 2010 out of its keenness to establish and consolidate a sound legal culture on the part of federal government employees with regard to the human resources’ legislations, policies, and regulations applied at the federal government level, through responding to the enquiries and questions of federal employees.

The authority has also launched the human resources policies automation system (OPA) under the title “Ask the Legal Expert” which was made available on its online website with the purpose of providing prompt responses to legal enquiries and requests for consultation submitted by federal government employees on human resources policies, regulations and legislations in a distinctively interactive manner ensuring accurate and speedy responses.