DIFC Employment Law Update 2024 – DEWS and GPSSA

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is a Dubai freezone financial centre. DIFC has announced an update to its Employment Law in March 2024. 

What is DIFC DEWS?

DIFC Employee Workplace Savings (DEWS) is a DIFC-specific workplace savings plan for employees end of service benefits.

DEWS is a mandatory requirement for expatriate employees working in DIFC. UAE and GCC National employees don't need to be enrolled in DEWS, due to already accruing a social security benefit through General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) contributions. They can however enroll and make voluntary contributions.

What is the change to the DIFC Employment Law?

A new amendment to the DIFC Employment Law is now in effect and is seeking to address an imbalance in UAE/GCC national pension contributions. Expatriate employees working in DIFC are getting higher contribution payments from employers through DEWS than the GPSSA contributions required for UAE/GCC nationals.

To address this contribution imbalance for UAE and GCC National employees, DIFC employers are now required to make a top-up payment to the Qualifying Scheme for eligible UAE/GCC national employees where there is a shortfall between monthly pension contributions and what they would have otherwise received as monthly contributions into DEWS.

The minimum contribution will be no less than AED1,000. DIFC employers must pay the positive difference on top of the GPSSA contributions.

Non-compliance will result in fines of up to USD2,000 per employee.

How can PPG assist? 

If you require assistance with assessing if your UAE and GCC nationals require a top-up, speak to our HR team for more guidance. We can assist with GPSSA registration for your company and UAE/ GCC national employees as well as calculations on the required contributions and the top-up balance requirements moving forward. 

Sovereign PPG's HR understand the regulatory employment framework in DIFC and across all UAE jurisdictions. We understand the complexities of having to navigate a diverse workforce where different requirements apply between your expatriate and Emirati/ GCC national employees. We can remove the complexity for our clients with our full range HR and employee management services. Visit our HR Services page for more information or fill in the inline form below and we would be delighted to assist you.