# UAE Camp Quarantine Facilities and Medical Exclusion — Research Notes

**Source access date:** 19-Aug-2026. The original Arabic texts, local Health Authority orders and employment contract terms prevail.

## Communicable-Disease Facilities

Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2016, Executive Regulations of Federal Law No. 14 of 2014, distinguishes health facilities from quarantine outside health facilities:

- **Health facilities:** must set up isolation rooms in the number defined by the competent Health Authority and proportionate to capacity/specialisation. Hospitals must meet transmission-appropriate isolation levels and technical specifications. This is a health-facility requirement; it does not establish that an ordinary remote camp kitchen must construct a hospital-standard isolation room.
- **Quarantine outside health facilities:** Article 10 allows it “as needed” in temporary areas set by the Health Authority. Those areas may include residential buildings or locations, but must remain under Health Authority supervision.
- **Quarantine at home:** Article 10 permits isolation of the affected/contact person in a well-ventilated room with a private bathroom.
- **Health Authority discretion:** the Health Authorities issue decisions and conditions appropriate for enforcing quarantine according to the applicable disease table.

Therefore, there is no single publicly available federal rule that requires every remote camp to maintain a permanent on-site isolation facility for an asymptomatic food handler merely awaiting clearance testing. The actual requirement follows the pathogen and Health Authority case instruction. Until that instruction, the camp must immediately remove the worker from food/ice/water/clean-equipment duties, arrange medical referral, and avoid presenting a welfare room as a clinical isolation facility.

## Carrier, Medical Removal and Return

Federal Law No. 14 of 2014 requires a facility manager to refer a suspected infected worker to a competent physician, immediately inform the Ministry/Health Body if infection is confirmed, take preventive measures, and accept return only when Ministry/Health Body conditions are fulfilled. The Law permits medical leave for carriers where continuing activity would harm others. The Health Authority may perform surveillance/investigation, collect samples and impose prevention controls.

## Employment-Status Boundary

The private-sector UAE Labour Law provides up to 90 days of sick leave after probation (first 15 days full pay, next 30 days half pay, remaining 45 days no pay), subject to the statutory conditions. The employee must notify the employer of sickness within three days and submit a medical report. Employers may not dismiss or give termination notice during sick leave. This does not make every food-safety removal an automatic unpaid disciplinary suspension.

A policy should call the control **“medical exclusion / work restriction”**, not disciplinary suspension. Pay, leave, accommodation, transport and work-status terms require case-by-case confirmation against clinician/Health Authority documentation, UAE Labour Law, employment contract, company policy and any client agreement. A disciplinary action, if any, must be separate from the immediate health-protection removal and follow labour-law due process.

## Official Sources

1. Federal Law No. 14 of 2014 on Control of Communicable Diseases: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1198
2. Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2016, Executive Regulations: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1197
3. Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on Regulation of Employment Relationships: https://uaelegislation.gov.ae/en/legislations/1541
4. UAE Government Portal, types of leave / sick leave: https://u.ae/en/information-and-services/jobs/Sector-of-employment/employment-in-the-private-sector/Types-of-leaves