“Labour” does not recognize provisions that are unfair to workers’ rights

Yesterday, the Ministry of Labor refused to recognize a clause in an employment contract that prevents an employee from working for any other entity, whether competing or not. It awarded another employee about two million dirhams in compensation, because his employment contract includes a clause obligating the company to pay his salaries, in the event that his services are dispensed with, for the entire remaining period of the contract.

In detail, the Ministry of Labor yesterday, during the open day activities at the Ministry’s new headquarters in Abu Dhabi, rejected a request submitted by a company owner to impose a penalty of deprivation of work on a former employee, attaching with it a copy of the employment contract concluded between him and the employee, even though he had completed three years. He worked, and his contract was for an indefinite period.

One of the terms of the contract obligates the employee not to join work within the country for the benefit of any entity after terminating his work with the company. The Acting Director General of the Ministry, Hamid Rashid bin Dimas Al Suwaidi, considered this clause to be in violation of the labor law, as it prohibits the worker from working in any institution, whether competitive or non-competitive, because it harms the worker’s rights.

He explained that there is a misunderstanding of the legal rule that considers the contract to be the law of the contracting parties, as many employers understand it to mean that it allows them to register any clauses that limit the rights guaranteed by the law to the worker, which is inconsistent with the truth, because the labor law has its own specificity, as it is not permissible to The employment contract contains any clause that violates the worker’s rights in any profession, adding that some workers’ waiver of their right to end-of-service compensation within the employment contract is illegal and the ministry does not take it into consideration in the event of a labor dispute.

He also stressed that the law only recognizes the employment contract registered with the Ministry, a single official document that defines the relationship between the worker and the employer, and does not recognize side agreements or contracts, especially if they violate the rights guaranteed to the worker by the Labor Law, considering that these rights represent the minimum that must be added to. Not to detract from it.

He stressed that if these provisions are in the best interest of the worker, they become binding on the employer and are fulfilled by law.

The Acting Director General of the Ministry of Labor stated that the labor court ruled to oblige a private sector company to pay about two million dirhams to an employee with high salaries whose services in the company were terminated, after it became clear that the employment contract signed between the two parties, the employee and the employer, includes a clause stipulating an obligation The employer pays the employee’s salaries for the entire remaining period of the contract in the event that his services are terminated by the company.

The company gave reasons for terminating his services by restructuring the company after recent economic developments. The employee did not suffer any harm as a result of his services being terminated due to him joining another job, while the court said in its ruling that the employee obtaining another job does not mean that no harm occurred, and the company paid the amount.

Yesterday, during the open day activities, the auditor submitted a request to be permitted to work in a private facility, despite the presence of a circular issued to him from Mashreq Bank, due to his failure to pay a debt, as a result of which he was imprisoned for five months until one of his relatives was able to pay part of the debt and the remainder was paid in installments of 1,000 dirhams. monthly.

Although he remained in an illegal situation for about a year and a half, the Acting Director General of the Ministry of Labor asked him to submit an official letter from the judicial authorities stating that the auditor was unable to travel abroad and amend his status after canceling his residency, during the aforementioned period, as a result of his travel ban and the confiscation of his passport. Taking into account that the worker has been inside the country for 37 years, during which he worked in the police, the Ministry of Defense, the municipality, and other governmental and private agencies, and his residence throughout this period was legal.

The Ministry rejected a request submitted by a private company contracting with a local entity to approve the transfer of workers from a company that the latter intends to terminate their services, and at the same time refused to grant them a no-objection to transfer their sponsorship to another facility. The Director General said that non-objection is one of the facility’s rights, which it uses in the manner it deems appropriate for its benefit within the limits of the law, and the Ministry cannot push the company to agree to transfer their sponsorship except in specific cases, including arbitrary dismissal and failure to receive a salary for two consecutive months.