The Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 (the New Labor Law) came into force on 2 February 2022 and is a new decree law that regulates labor relations and employment practice in the private sector within the UAE. The New Labor Law represents a milestone development for the private sector and is the most substantial change to the existing UAE Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 (the Previous Labor Law) since its inception, and replaces the Previous Labor Law in its entirety. The New Labor Law contains numerous references to "executive regulations", which have now been released in the form of UAE Cabinet Resolution No.1 of 2022 (the "Executive Regulations"). The Executive Regulations supplement and clarify various provisions of the New Labor Law and in light of this, we have updated our comparison between the Previous Labor Law and the New Labor Law to include reference to the key changes within the Executive Regulations.
