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Find out moreWe are excited to share the latest edition of the Law Update, beautifully and appropriately titled “Sustainable Horizons: The Saudi Arabian Vision.” Giving special honor to the Kingdom’s 2030 vision, this update focuses on a collection of both informative and inspiring articles.
For those in construction, you can learn about how the tendering environment impacts risk-pricing for contractors, the updates on the legal framework of the construction industry and how contractors can protect themselves against financial difficulties.
There is good news too from the kingdom’s banking sector, from which the practice of “Open Banking” is being pushed for! But what is open banking? We’re answering that too.
Also . . . Are there any women trail blazers in Saudi Arabia you can name? We’ll help you with that. We cover how the Middle East has been making strides in empowering women in the entrepreneurial space,most notably in STEM fields.
Read the full editionAs a reminder, the proposed new DIFC employment law was out for consultation which ended on 22 March 2018.
Since that time, the DIFC have been considering the extensive consultation paper feedback that it received and has been working on an updated draft law.
As at the date of writing, the proposed new law has not been enacted.
There has been some confusion in the market place as some law firms have run seminars on the proposed new DIFC Employment Law. In our view, such sessions are premature. The substance and form of the final version of new law may differ in some material aspects given the nature of the of consultation feedback. Accordingly, we do not consider it appropriate for companies to act upon the substance of the existing version of the proposed new DIFC Employment Law (eg. updating handbooks etc) when the final version may materially differ from the current draft.
The confusion has not been helped by the fact that the initial version of the proposed new law was issued for consultation without a draft watermark which led to many assuming that it had been enacted when this was not the case.
We understand that a final draft of the proposed new DIFC Employment Law will be circulated by the DIFC shortly and it will likely be accompanied by employment regulations which will sit alongside the new law. We anticipate that the new law will be enacted by year-end or early next year with the latter being the most likely timeframe.
For completeness, we provide a link to our initial alert, advising that the new DIFC Employment Law was out for consultation. As noted above, the final position regarding a number of the issues that we flagged at the time remains outstanding.
Key Contact
Gordon Barr
Partner, Employment & Incentives
g.barr@tamimi.com
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