Company formation specialist

WPS is an electronic initiative to safeguard payment of workers’ wages via transfers through selected financial institutions that are authorized and regulated by the government. The system was developed by the central bank to support work of the ministry through setting up of the database on payment of workers’ salaries by the private sector. The ministry would ensure that the firms pay salaries on time. Such a procedure will help it take speedy measures to curb disputes related to wages.

WPS targets mainly parties or companies that are registered with the Ministry of Labour. This would include

·     Every individual in the private sector who has been issued a labour card by the Ministry,

·     Employers who are registered with the Ministry

·     Banks and Financial Institutions which the employer has a bank account with, that is used to transfer the wages amount through WPS to the appointed agent to distribute to the labours.

·     Agents that are approved and authorized by the Central Bank(UAE) to offer wages payment services via WPS

There are important Deadlines for institutions to start transferring workers’ wages via WPS:

Companies who fail to transfer wages though the WPS will be denied the right to have new work permits.Also those companies that delay the wages payment more than one month will be denied the right to have new work permits.

 The UAE Ministry of Labor has said that 100,000 workers have received salaries through its Wage Protection System (WPS) during July and August this year. The scheme, which became officially operational in September, ensures that workers’ salaries are transferred directly to banks without any deductions. The ministry said that 35 banks out of the 54 in the country have already received licenses for the WPS service from the UAE Central Bank ¹. (Khaleej Times)