Middle East: Employment and HR

In his capacity as Chairman of the Financial Audit Authority (FAA), His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum...

The Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) has recently introduced two significant regulatory updates aimed at bolstering whistleblower protections: the Employment Regulations (Amendment No. 1) 2024 and the Whistleblower Protection Regulations 2024.

Labour and Employment Comparative Guide for the jurisdiction of Saudi Arabia, check out our comparative guides section to compare across multiple countries

An Extension Order establishes wage payment obligations for Israeli employees who were absent from work during Operation "Roaring Lion" between March and June 2026 due to security-related circumstances.

Egypt's new Ministerial Decree No. 162 of 2026 establishes comprehensive internal work regulations for private-sector establishments with ten or more employees, introducing mandatory requirements for workplace policies...

Israel's Ministry of Labor has updated the recuperation pay rate for 2026 to NIS 451.50 per day, requiring employers to recalculate and pay differences to employees who received lower rates earlier in the year. The extension order applies broadly across the private sector with specific exceptions for public sector employees and sheltered workshop workers.

Foreign-owned companies hiring in Egypt cannot simply adapt a global employment template and assume that its standard clauses will work locally. Egyptian employment relationships now fall primarily under Labour Law No. 14 of 2025, which entered into force on 1 September 2025 and replaced the previous Labour Law No. 12 of 2003.

تخضع اتفاقيات عدم المنافسة في مصر لإطار قانوني صارم يميز بين القيود أثناء علاقة العمل

Qatar has introduced significant amendments to its Labour Law through Law No. 9 of 2026, fundamentally reshaping employment regulations across multiple dimensions including worker classification, noncompete enforcement, strike conditions, and employer compliance obligations. The reforms extend noncompete durations to two years while requiring Ministry approval, impose stricter conditions on the right to strike, mandate joint committees for larger establishments, and introduce vocational certification requir

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) is taking steps to implement these amendments, and ministerial resolutions are expected to be issued in due course to provide further guidance to companies falling within its jurisdiction.

Redundancy in the UAE is not formally defined or regulated as a separate termination category. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 does not use the word redundancy.

A Dubai Court of Cassation ruling confirms that UAE employers cannot escape labour law obligations simply because formal MOHRE employment contracts were never executed. In a dispute involving AED 688,000 in claims, the court held that employment relationships may be proven through all legally recognised evidence, and that regulatory non-compliance by employers does not eliminate employee rights under UAE labour law.