In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, the UAE labour ministry made the decision in March to allow companies to "restructure the contractual relationship" with their employers, including cutting salaries and putting workers on paid leave. 

While they do state they should be taken only with the agreement of the workers and applied gradually, the reality is that coupled with the UAE's pre-existing unequal employer-employee relationship these steps will disadvantage workers further.

Further, the measures only apply to non-citizens, prompting NGO Migrant Rights to label them "a discrimination that renders migrant workers... as completely dispensable".