If you look at the Wikipedia page for Dress Code, you will be amazed to see the kind of information that is available on this topic.  It has been an illusory notion inculcated in an individual by the society with no rationale ever questioned.

Even as I write this, I do see a reason for certain sections of the society such as the Armed Forces or Police having their ‘uniform’.  The military uniform made soldiers recognizable in crowded and smoke-filled battle fields, they shaped actions and habits and helped impose a discipline that transformed individual strength into collective power.  Almost all men in the military consider their uniform sacrosanct with a psychological and emotional value embedded in it.

My question on the dress code culture is relevant to civilian society where the so-called code seems to have no basis or rationale.  The use of suit dates back to 17th century, a culture that spread from the West.  And it is still meticulously followed elsewhere, considered to be symbolic of an ‘elite’ lifestyle.  In the West, there was reason to wear garments of that nature for protection from the severe cold.  But you will see people wearing these garments under the scorching sun, sweating and suffocating, without ever bothering about the reason why they subject themselves to this hardship!

I have also wondered as to why the Indian Judiciary has chosen black jackets and trousers for the lawyers appearing in the Courts – just carrying forward the British legacy? Black is said to absorb heat and nevertheless is the favorite color used by the Indian legal fraternity, notwithstanding most of the Court rooms having no air-conditioned interiors.  Why was there no thought about it?

There are several corporate houses insisting dress code while there has also been some multinational entities where employees are encouraged to wear clothes comfortable to them, some of them having presence in the Middle East as well.  It is high time some thinking on this is required.  If at all the dress code has to do anything with the productivity, it is only comfortable clothing that will help rather than an imposed dress code with reason therefor not known even to the very management.

While at this, I also appreciate the tendency of the Arab Governments in encouraging their citizens to continue wearing their traditional clothing, upholding their national heritage rather than being swayed away by external influences.  Just because the Indian Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram promotes the Tamil Nadu traditional clothing, the illusory crave for Western dress code is not going to change among the Indians, or for that matter, any other Asian nationals.  What is needed is a conscious introspection among the society at large on all matters, that include this apparently insignificant but factually significant issue.

Ragavan addressing the audience at Emirates Humour Association

Believe it or not, he is one of the very few Indian expatriates of the United Arab Emirates who keeps himself away from any kind of stress or strain and who always is self-contented.  It was just a few months ago that we got acquainted with each other though we knew each other for a few years through a common friend.

Ragavan, having spent almost sixteen years of life full of multivarious activities in the United Arab Emirates, is at last, retiring from his employment with Union Insurance Company PSC, Ajman and leaving for India in October 2009 to settle down at Chennai with his near and dear.

A vociferous blogger since May 2008 and a regular writer to Editors of almost all popular newspapers and an Author of a few works (very little known even among his close associates), Ragavan has preserved his enthusiasm in sharing his views on several subjects through the medium of weblogs in the recent years.  He has also been actively associated with the Emirates Humour Club.

It is interesting to read Ragavan’s unambiguous views on certain topics as seen in his blogs almost regularly being published in WordPress and Blogger.

Being one among his friends who would be missing him, I wish him the very best in all his future endeavours, wherever he decides to live.  I am sure, Ragavan’s retirement is only from his UAE employer, but not from various other activities in which he will continue to be involved with more vigour and enthusiasm.

Passport

Passport is a document issued by a national government identifying a traveler as a citizen with a right to protection while abroad and a right to return to the country of citizenship.

As such, it goes without saying that this official document should be in the possession of the person to whom it is issued by the national government of his/her country identifying the holder to be its citizen.

Indian Passport

As in the case of Passports of most countries, the Indian Passports contain a message purportedly by order of the President of the Republic of India as follows:

“These are to request and require in the name of the President of the Republic of India all, those whom it may concern to allow the bearer to pass freely without let or hindrance, and to afford him or her, every assistance and protection of which he or she may stand in need.”

This apart, the Indian Passports also caution that –

“This Passport is the property of the Government of India, any communication received by holder from the Passport Authority regarding this Passport, including demand for its surrender, should be complied with immediately.  Passport should not be sent out of any country by post.  It should be in the custody either of the holder or of a person authorised by the holder.  It must not be altered or mutilated in any way.  Loss, theft or destruction of Passports should be immediately reported to the nearest Passport Authority in India or (if the holder is abroad) to the nearest Indian Mission and to the Local Police.  Only after exhaustive enquiries shall a replacement Passport be issued.”

The Indian Passports also encourages Indian citizens resident abroad to register themselves at the nearest Indian Mission / Post.

Indian Passports

Courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

Passport ‘intimidation’

In spite of the importance of this vital official document and inherent protections granted to the bearer, it is unfortunate that there are still many employers who not only keep the Passports of their employees unlawfully in their custody, but also seek to impose their will on helpless expatriate employees by employing intimidatory tactics and coercion.  This blog, illustrating a recent example of such employer high-handedness that happened in the United Arab Emirates, is entitled “Passport Intimidation” only due to this reason.

Reasons for the unlawful practice continue unabated

Among other aspects of this unfair practice prevalent among many employers in this country, this weblog has identified the following aspects as key to the unabated continuity of this unhealthy behaviour on the part of delinquent employers despite Government efforts to curb, namely:-

1.  Absence of unambiguous procedures promulgated and monitored by the Government;

2.  Ineffective mechanism, if not the absence of any mechanism at all, to deter recurrence of such incidents;

3.  Callous attitude of the Diplomatic Missions of affected expatriates in this country and their virtual inaction on complaints

4.  Absence of an effective campaign among the expatriate community to raise their awareness

Let us now discuss each of the above reasons at length.

Absence of unambiguous procedures promulgated and monitored by the Government

Though there are several newspaper reports, articles, blogs and comments about this unlawful practice prevalent in the United Arab Emirates and the Government of the country also apparently endeavours to curb the practice, it is unfortunate that till today, there has been no unambiguous procedures promulgated by the Ministry of Labour with a mechanism to monitor that such procedures are strictly adhered to by those concerned.

Following are some excerpts from relevant news or articles or blogs that have appeared in the public media on the subject.

“The law prevents the employer from retaining passports on the basis that it is a document related to the person and no one should retain it except the competent judge if necessary. There is also an earlier decision by the Minister of Interior that prevents companies from retaining passports.”

Source: Answer by Advocate Mohammad Ebrahim Al Shaiba of Al Bahar Advocates and Legal Consultants, to a specific question put forth by a Gulf News reader, as published on June 13, 2008 under Ask the Law columns in The Gulf News, one of the leading English language newspapers in the UAE.

“The practice of retaining passports in the UAE is illegal in accordance with court rulings,” Aref Mirza, director of the legal department at the Ministry of Labour, told Gulf News.  Mirza added that a worker, whose employer withholds his passport and refuses to return it, can quit without a notice period and demand a compensation for dismissal.

“Retaining workers’ passports amounts to forcible work in violation of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour, to which the UAE is a signatory.”

Speaking of the ways of withholding passports, Mirza said they include denying access to the passport, making surrender of the passport a prerequisite for recruitment or forcing a worker to hand over the passport.“

Source: Gulf News dated June 13, 2006

“While the question of retaining the passport of employees is not specifically mentioned in the labour law, this issue is frequently raised and it has been confirmed to me by several lawyers versed in such issues that this action is illegal.   In 2008 the Ministry of Interior issued a circular stating that the employer/sponsor may not retain the worker’s passport for any reason.  If your employer insists, I suggest you refer them to the law, or you may wish to file a complaint with the Ministry of Labour. Retaining a worker’s passports amounts to forcible work in violation of the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour, to which the UAE is a signatory.

Readers may also like to note that retaining a passport for a security deposit is also illegal.”

Source: The National, February 28,2009

“In a separate statement, the Ministry of Labour this week vowed to clamp down on companies retaining passports of workers.The practice of company’s retaining employees’ passports will not be tolerated, a senior UAE Ministry of Labour official has said.

The retention of workers’ passports by employers was illegal, Yousuf Abdulghani, Executive Director, policies and strategy at the Ministry, said.

Some firms, especially in the construction industry, continue to withhold foreign workers’ passports despite instructions issued by the Ministry of Interior warning employers not to hold passports for any reason.

“It’s illegal,” Abdulghani said in an interview for Arabian Business. “The government will not tolerate companies that withhold passports,” he said.

He said it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Interior to ensure the practice did not happen.

Certain insurance companies required employers to withhold passports under insurance schemes to protect firms against workers who abscond, according to Alex Zalami, senior advisor for the Ministry of Labour.

He said other measures needed to be introduced to protect employers against the risk of workers leaving the country.

Venu Rajamony, Consul General of India in Dubai, said: “To use it [a passport] as an instrument against a worker is wrong.

“They [the employers] should not do it, it’s against the law.

The UAE is signed up to the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour, under which the retention of workers’ passports is a violation of the agreement.”

Source: Business Intelligence, Middle East, dated April 30, 2009 under an article entitled “UAE to stamp out illegal recruitment practices, employers confiscating passports“

It is also learnt that Lieutenant General Shaikh Saif Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Interior, has issued directives to all government departments to reinforce the fact that retaining the passport of any resident without a court order violates the law.

“A passport is a personal document that proves the identity of the holder, and the laws stipulate that the bearer must keep his or her passport and present it to the authorities concerned upon their request,” Shaikh Saif, who was then undersecretary of the ministry, said in the circular dated December 25, 2002, according to a Gulf News report dated 13th June 2006.  The report also adds that “Employers who fail to give workers their passports on request are in breach of trust. The offence carries a prison term of up to three years or a fine of up to Dh 20,000,” quoting a legal consultant.

Nevertheless, one fails to see any written law explicitly prohibiting employers from retaining workers’ passports.  Nor can one trace any set of rules or procedures to be followed by employers in retaining workers’ passports under certain circumstances such as Insurance Warranties requiring Passports of certain category of employees handling sensitive jobs such as Cashier. The absence of such unambiguous law or procedures have been one of the reasons for proliferation of cases involving Passport abuse by employers.

Ineffective mechanism, if not the absence of any mechanism at all, to deter recurrence of such incidents

Another reason for the trend of employers retaining workers’ Passports is the ineffective mechanism, if not the absence of any mechanism at all, to deter recurrence of such incidents.

For instance, the real example of my wife can be taken for illustration.  She was working for Sharjah Insurance Company’s Head Office in Sharjah, from September 2008 till August 2009.  Though she was under my own sponsorship, her Passport was in the custody of the employer as is the case with all other employees of the Company, including those sponsored by their spouses.  When she was asked to work in the Dubai office of the Company on deputation for one month against a paltry conveyance allowance of AED 500 a month which, by any yardstick was insufficient considering the taxi fare involved in travelling between Dubai and Sharjah, she did not oblige as there was no condition in her employment contract mandating her to work for any office of the Company other than the Sharjah office.  While the employer, under such circumstances, had no option under law to impose their will, it was strange that Sharjah Insurance Company chose not only to dispense with her services arbitrarily with immediate effect, but also refused to return her Passport unless she submitted her formal resignation to the Company!

Left with no alternative, she approached the Ministry of Labour at Sharjah with a written complaint.  During the preliminary conciliatory proceedings, the Labour Officer suggested to the PRO of the Company who represented the employer during the hearing to consider increasing the Conveyance Allowance to a reasonable level, say AED 1,000 a month in which case, the employee may be willing to work in their Dubai office for a month.  The Labour Officer also advised that the Company had no right, whatsoever, to retain the Complainant’s Passport, especially when she is sponsored by her spouse, and urged that her Passport be returned forthwith.

Rather than accepting the setback caused by their imprudent and unlawful action, the employer chose to terminate her services forthwith by cancelling the employment contract.

Had there been any written law or set of rules or procedures in place, the Ministry officials could have been in a position to initiate the following actions, among others:-

1. Imposed a penalty on the employer for having unlawfully retained the employee’s Passport and refusing to return it on demand;
2. Verified and satisfied itself that the employer had returned the Passports of all other employees working for the Company and did not violate the rule any more;
3. Consider blacklisting the employer in case of subsequent violation of the law, rules or procedures, if they had been in place

But, the employer was allowed to go scotfree even in the wake of unassailable evidence of having retained the employee’s Passport in their custody.

Callous attitude of the Diplomatic Missions of affected expatriates in this country and their virtual inaction on complaints

Failure of the Diplomatic Missions to assign any seriousness when such issues are brought to their attention is another reason for the so-called Passport ‘Intimidation’ continue unabated.  When encountered with situations beyond their capability to resolve, these Diplomatic Missions of their own country situated in the foreign land where they work are the only possible source of assistance that any expatriate would expect.  When he or she finds that no response, let alone concrete action against the psychological assault, is forthcoming from this quarters, the expatriate finds himself or herself left in the lurch.

This is what happened to me in the case illustrated above, pertaining to my wife.  Since I was the sponsor of my wife, I reasonably thought it appropriate to write to the Indian Consulate in Dubai seeking guidance on how to proceed under such difficult circumstances to recover my wife’s Passport from her employers.  My first mail reporting the matter and seeking assistance was sent to the email address of the Consulate published in its website www.cgidubai.com.  When there was no response, after four days the next mail was sent with further updates on what I had been doing about it and seeking guidance.  This time, the mail was sent not only to the email address to which it was earlier sent, but also to the official email addresses of the Consulate General of India, Dubai and other Consuls responsible for Passports and Labour respectively.  There was no response from any of them.  The third mail was sent to the Indian Embassy at Abu Dhabi as well, in addition to all of them to whom it was earlier sent.  Unfortunately, the mail sent to Indian Embassy bounced with status ‘Over Quota’ indicating that emails sent to this address were seldom monitored!  Thereafter, I had to write emails to the Ministry of Non-Resident Indian Affiars in New Delhi and also to the Minister of State for External Affairs, Government of India.  The only consolation was there was a reply from the Office of the MoS for External Affairs acknowledging the mail and advising that the Ministry would be looking into what it could do in the matter.

Absence of an effective campaign among the expatriate community to raise their awareness

I consider absence of an effective campaign among the expatriate community aimed at raising the level of their awareness of such issues is the next possible reason for this kind of unhealthy trend.   Keeping this in mind, I have gathered some information on what is happening with regard to employees’ Passports in some other Companies.  Barring a few prominent companies including the Company where I work, most employers still continue the practice of retaining their employees’ Passports in their custody.  Even big names are no exception!  During the process, I also gathered some information published in the Internet relevant to the issue in hand which are furnished below.

Gulf News - Ask the Law - "Passport is being withheld" dated October 31, 2007
Gulf News - Ask the Law - "Fired, but Passport retained" dated October 30, 2007
Gulf News - Ask the Law - "Sponsor withholding Passports" dated September 21, 2007
Gulf News - Ask the Law - "Retention of Passports" dated June 13, 2008
Gulf News - Ask the Law - "I stood as guarantor for friend" dated November 2, 2007
Gulf News - The Nation (Employment) - "Retaining Passports is 'forcible labour'"  datedJune 13, 2006
The National - "Passports, Car Insurance and Maternity Leave" dated February 28, 2009
Business Intelligence M.E. - "UAE to stamp out illegal recruitment practices, employers confiscating Passports" dated April 30, 2009
Daijiworld.com - "Holding employees' Passports illegal" dated May 13, 2009
Impactt - "Give me back my Passport" dated July 22, 2009

In fine, I feel it is high time that the expatriate community understand their plight and formulate appropriate steps that they need to initiate in the event of encountering such difficult situations.

Sharjah corniche

Living in Sharjah during the past one year, I changed my earlier opinion that people preferred to live in Sharjah to avoid ever-escalating cost of living in Dubai with every passing day.  Now I am convinced that though that could be the primary reason, there are several other reasons such as pleasant, pollution-free environment, a blend of nature’s beauty with Islamic architecture, lesser cost of living and lesser traffic congestions barring peak-hours unlike the present Dubai.  With the recent decision of Sharjah authorities to infuse more buses into the Public Transport fleet recently launched in the city, those living in Sharjah have reason to feel delighted.

Photograph with Saji Nair, a friend from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Since 1998, the number of residences that I have stayed in are more than a dozen!  My stay upon arrival was with my cousin at Bur Dubai, close to the Bus Station.  Within a week, I managed to share a rented apartment with another Keralite, that too close to Bur Dubai bus station.  However, upon getting a job in Deira, I moved my residence to Deira, on Muraqabat Road sharing with two friends – Sunil and Murali.  Then, I moved to an apartment near Al Ghurair City, sharing with friends including Viswanathan.  The next move was closer to my office, behind Dnata, where I met my close friends Iyengar and Rajagopal.  The sixth move was with them to a small apartment in Muraqabat area.  Then I left for Bur Dubai to share an apartment with my cousin near Bank of Baroda where I stayed for almost an year.  The next move was to Karama with my friend Rajagopal.  Then we joined Iyengar sharing a flat in Bur Dubai, near Rolla Street.  Then came the tenth move, again to Deira, in Muraqabat with Iyengar and Kesavamoorthy.  With this, bachelor life in Dubai came to an end.

In 2007, I moved to my present residence at Sharjah before the arrival of my wife from India.