Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Failure to pay wages considered arbitrary termination - Dubai Cassation Court

A case at the Dubai Cassation Court has resulted in six new principles - all favouring workers – governing labour relations.
Under its ruling, the court has decided that failing to pay wages is considered an arbitrary termination of service and entailed compensation.Also, salaries are not considered as cleared by the court unless the employer submits the relevant documents.
The ruling also found that even if the employer fails to take or finish the necessary procedures for employment, the worker still has rights and an employer’s obligations to workers should be fulfilled.
It also found that the worker’s uninterrupted service to the employer or his legal successor was considered continuous since the joining date, even if the two parties had more than one labour contract.
And lastly, the evidence of court-appointed experts can also be subject to evaluation before being used in sentencing. The court–appointed experts should meet the parties in dispute and failing to submit documents does not invalidate an expert’s report.
The six principles were issued on the wake of a case been brought to the Cassation Court.An employee had asked a company to pay him Dh3.7m he claimed that he was entitled to.
The employee had requested the payment of D450,000 in unpaid salaries and Dh50,000 for a month’s notice, Dh150,000 compensation for arbitrary termination of service, Dh88,000 for end of services, Dh3 million in commission entitlements, and Dh3,000 for a return air ticket.
Based on the report of an expert assigned by the Court of First Instance, the court had ordered the company to pay the plaintiff Dh3.4m and to provide an air ticket should he not find another job.
The Appeal Court has reduced the sentenced amount to Dh1.8 million, as the employee lost his right in claiming some of the commissions because of a lapse of over a year following the due date.
The company had appealed the sentence to the Cassation Court, which has turned down the appeal and upheld the sentence of the Appeal Court, ordering it to pay Dh1.8m to the plaintiff.
The Cassation Court has based in its sentence and principles on Articles No.1 and 58 of the Labour Law.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm in a similar situation. It looks like once you file a dispute the contract ends immediately and the Visa needs to be canceled once the case is referred to the court. Isn't there a way to make the employer pay and the employee keep his or her job.

Anonymous said...

You must report labour department about your issue and get their advise