UAE. Arbitration between employer and employee. Real cases.

1. MOHRE contract: probationary period 1 month. Thus, after a month, the employer loses his right to demand compensation for the visa, according to Article 9, Federal Law 33 of 2021. In the UAE, the probationary period can be up to 6 months, according to the law. This does not mean that you, as an employer, must keep the employee for the entire probationary period; you can fire him after 2 weeks, after a week, or even the next day if he is not suitable for you. But if, during the probationary period, the employee leaves for another employer, then you have the legal right to demand compensation for visa costs and even for training, if you have an invoice for the training.

2. MOHRE contract. The notice period is 6 months. The salary in the contract is “not even all doctors and CEOs earn that much.” Now, to terminate a contract, the employer must pay wages for 6 months (!) after termination of the contract. Because “the lawyer who drafted the contract said that in the UAE the notice period for termination of a contract is 6 months (apparently he confused it with the probationary period).” Where can I find that lawyer and force him to pay the entire notice period after dismissal, out of his own pocket?

3. An employee was told that the terms of his contract were being changed. Starting this month, he will not get salaries, only commissions. After this the employee stopped going to work and went to work for competitors, taking away the customer database.

What should the sponsoring employer do?

3.1. Immediately cancel, terminate (or change the contract) that from now on the employer will pay 0 salary, only commissions. This must be recorded in MOHRE.

3.2. If an employee refuses to sign a new contract, then it is necessary to terminate the old contract and pay for the “notice period” - as in the MOHRE contract. Terminate the contract by paying the notice period. If you have not done this, as an employer, you will pay wages until you terminate the contract + notice period. If an employee does not go to work for 2-3 months, and the MOHRE contract is not terminated, de jure, the employer is obliged to pay wages until the contract is canceled.

3.3. If an employee does not go to work for 7 days in a row, you must immediately open an “absconding case” with the Ministry of Labor. There may be additional costs of a couple of thousand dirhams. Therefore, look at what is “cheaper” - to initiate an “absconding case” or terminate the contract with payment of notice period.

3.4. if your employee works somewhere else, without your consent, all you can do is write a complain to the inspection. The inspection will come to your employee’s new employer and fine both of them, the employee may be blacklisted and deported. This is in theory. In practice, the inspection always warns that at such and such a time, on such and such a day, they will come with an inspection so that management is in place. The forewarned management warns all illegal employees to leave their jobs, the inspection comes, everything is neat, according to the law. These inspections reveal nothing.

3.5 The fact that an employee took confidential information (client list) and leaked it to your competitors - MOHRE is not involved in this, you will be referred to arbitration, the arbitration will require you to provide evidence of specific financial losses in connection with this leak, the evidence base will tend to zero. Although there is an article for leaking confidential information, in practice it does not work, it is difficult to prove, you will collect evidence from 6 to 12 months and it is not a fact that you will win the case. No one will pay for the employer's losses. At best, a fine and a ban on work will be imposed on the former employee. This will not help the employer financially.

3.6 If you give loans to an employee, even against a receipt, the employee cheats you out of money, goes to another employer (at the same time leaking the customer database), then loans, debts of the employee to the company are outside the scope of MOHRE (except damage to property, embezzlement, causing demonstrable damage). Loans mean police proceedings, arbitration, long trips, and sitting for hours at different authorities, and you may also be fined for illegally issuing loans since you are not a bank and you do not have permission in your license for such actions (financial transactions, issuing loans).

Employers, be careful! Don’t mess with charlatans, fraudulent employees, or semi-literate consultants, even if they are top 10 in the UAE (thanks to marketing injections), don’t mess with labor law lawyers in the UAE, they know it very, very poorly, unfortunately, as practice shows. Even top law firms. It is better to contact an HR practitioner with at least 10 years of local experience. He will explain to you in practice how the law works in the UAE.