Employment & HR
Part-time, temporary and flexible work permits
One employee can lawfully work for several companies, and one company can lawfully hire for three months. Both require the right permit, and neither works on a handshake.
The entitlement
What the law gives, regardless of contract.
The labour law recognises work models beyond full-time permanent employment: part-time, temporary, flexible, job-sharing and condensed working. A part-time permit allows an employee to work for more than one employer, with hours allocated between them, and each arrangement requires MOHRE's permission rather than merely the employers' agreement. A temporary work permit covers engagements for a defined project or period. Students on a residence visa require their own permit before working at all.
These provisions exist to make lawful something that was previously happening informally, and the informal version remains a violation. An employee moonlighting for a second company without a part-time permit is working illegally, and the second employer is employing illegally, with penalties on both. The same applies to the very common arrangement in which a company engages someone for three months, pays them as a consultant, and neither party holds any permit for the work. Where an individual is genuinely independent and licensed, that is a contractor relationship; where they are directed and supervised like an employee, it is employment and needs a permit.
The numbers
- Part-time permit
- Allows work for more than one employer, hours allocated
- Temporary permit
- For a defined project or period
- Student permit
- Required before a student on a residence visa may work
- Juvenile permit
- For workers aged 15 to 18, with restrictions
- Approval
- MOHRE's, not just the employers'
- Informal arrangements
- A violation for both parties
What it costs
In practice
How this is actually administered.
- Identify the actual relationshipDirected and supervised is employment. Genuinely independent and licensed is a contractor. The label on the invoice does not decide it.
- Choose the right permit categoryPart-time, temporary, student or juvenile. Using a full employment permit for a three-month engagement is not a neutral shortcut.
- Get MOHRE's approval for multiple employmentBoth employers' agreement is not sufficient; the permit is.
- Allocate hours explicitlyPart-time arrangements specify the hours with each employer, and overlapping claims cause problems at renewal.
- Document it as you would a full contractLeave, notice and gratuity entitlements apply pro rata rather than not at all.
Related
Questions
Yes, with a part-time work permit from MOHRE. Both employers agreeing is not sufficient on its own.
A temporary work permit exists for exactly this. Paying them as a consultant without any permit is a violation if the relationship is really employment.
Yes. A student residence does not authorise employment; a separate permit is required and hours are restricted.
Statutory entitlements apply on a pro rata basis. They are not excluded because the role is part-time.
One question
How many people are on the payroll?
Then the order matters. Establishment card, then quota, then work permit, then entry permit, then medical, Emirates ID and contract registration. Skipping ahead to a signed offer letter before the quota exists is the usual way a start date slips by six weeks.
The first hire, in orderOr just ask usThis is the size where informal arrangements start costing money — salaries paid partly outside WPS, leave that was never tracked, gratuity nobody has accrued for. None of it is hard to fix now and all of it is expensive to fix at a MOHRE hearing.
What you are accruing without knowingOr just ask usThen Emiratisation quotas, WPS timing, ILOE subscriptions and health insurance renewals are running on separate calendars, and the penalty for each is levied per employee. Consolidating those dates is usually worth more than any single piece of advice.
What gets inspectedOr just ask us