The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) has referred a private company to the Public Prosecution for deducting money from the financial support allocated as part of the Nafis programme for Emirati trainees.

The Ministry’s step followed a complaint by a female Emirati trainee at the company. It was found that the company had instructed the trainees to pay a monthly financial contribution, which was deducted from their financial support received during the training process spanning over 12 months as part of the Nafis programme. The company alleged that it was allocating the deducted amounts to humanitarian initiatives.

“Such practices are considered a violation of the requirements explained to establishments before they are licensed by the Nafis to train Emiratis,” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

“Such practices are also considered a deviation from the basic objective of the training process, which is to equip the Emiratis in the private sector and develop their skillsets before they are employed on a permanent basis by those establishments after successful completion of the training.”

The Ministry reaffirmed that Nafis will continue to “support and empower Emiratis, enhance their competitiveness to join the private sector, and help the sector to achieve its goals in a way that ensures maximum benefit from Nafis in light of the package of privileges and incentives provided by the program.”

MoHRE stressed that it will be “dealing firmly with violations by imposing administrative penalties and fines against establishments that attempt to exploit Nafis’ incentives and benefits.”

It added: “This includes those who circumvent the objective of achieving the Emiratisation goals centered on improving the Emirati human development and supporting their effective participation in the private sector.”