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So I just got terminated due to redundancy, with 9 months left on my 2 year contract.

I have discussed this with my employer and they have offered all the usual stuff, including;

My 'end of service gratuity' pro-rated for 1.25 years.
The remainder of my annual leave.
A plane ticket back home.

But according to the UAE Labor Law we have the following sections.

Article 115
Where an employment contract is for a definite term and the employer revokes it for reasons other than those specified in Article (120) he shall be required to compensate the worker for any damage the latter sustains, provided that the amount of compensation shall in no case exceed the aggregate wage due for a period of three months or the remaining period of the contract, whichever is shorter, unless otherwise stipulated in the contract.

and

Article 131 (repeated)
1- 1- For the purpose of the preceding Article, the worker’s “repatriation expenses” refers to the value of his travel ticket as well as the travel expenses of his family and the cost of shipping of his personal effects, as stipulated in the Labour contract or the firm’s policies.

Meaning, in my opinion, that they should compensate me for terminating me with 9 months left on my contact. And that they should pay for my belongings to be shipped home.

My contract has no information about either of these two topics, making me think I should just go by the UAE law.

My questions are these:

1) Am I entitled to the three months wages?
2) Does wages mean total pay or only base salary?
3) Is the compensation really just up to a negotiation or is there a precedent that I could take to the MoL?
4) Should the company pay for my belongings to be sent home, as article 131 seems to say?
5) Should I get a lawyer?

Hey Captain,

Check this Q & A legal Doc on UAE Labor Laws. You should find the answers to your questions:


http://www.scribd.com/doc/7451998/Uae-Labour-Law

Cheers

TJ

Thank TJ, that's a very helpful document.

Section 16 is particularly relevant :

16. PAYMENT OF GRATUITY

What is the employee entitled to on the termination of his employment contract?

On the termination of the employment contract, an employee is entitled to the following:

1. A notice period, or any amount due in lieu of the notice period in the case of an unlimited contract.

2.In the case of an unlimited contract, compensation for unreasonable dismissal if the contract was terminated by the employer for unreasonable cause.

3.In the case of a limited contract, compensation equivalent to the period until the end of the contract, or three month’swages, whichever is shorter.

4.Payments equivalent to the balance of unutilised leave or any part thereof.

5.Payments for overtime or any balance of wages due and not yet paid.

6.End of service gratuity calculated on the duration of the employment.

7. Repatriation expenses as per the Law or the employment contact, subject to the employee not being in violation or inbreach of either the Law or the employment contract.

That's pretty clear about what I should get. Maybe I should send this to HR

it'll goto MOL court and they usually end up paying out 6 weeks, however if they've given you notice and ask you to leave right away but pay you that 1 month's, then it'll only be an additional 2 week's salary.

good luck.

I must have misplaced my copy of my contract so I had to go ask HR to print me out a scanned copy.

As for the start date, I'm using the date I started work. My labor card took 3 or 4 months to come.

@nuzbim - They gave me a a months notice and I'm currently serving that now. Finish at the end of the month. Are you saying I would probably only get 2 weeks extra pay if I disputed it? I'm asking for 2 months pay from them.

Captain Australia wrote:Thank TJ, that's a very helpful document.

Section 16 is particularly relevant :

16. PAYMENT OF GRATUITY

What is the employee entitled to on the termination of his employment contract?

On the termination of the employment contract, an employee is entitled to the following:

1. A notice period, or any amount due in lieu of the notice period in the case of an unlimited contract.

2.In the case of an unlimited contract, compensation for unreasonable dismissal if the contract was terminated by the employer for unreasonable cause.

3.In the case of a limited contract, compensation equivalent to the period until the end of the contract, or three month’swages, whichever is shorter.

4.Payments equivalent to the balance of unutilised leave or any part thereof.

5.Payments for overtime or any balance of wages due and not yet paid.

6.End of service gratuity calculated on the duration of the employment.

7. Repatriation expenses as per the Law or the employment contact, subject to the employee not being in violation or inbreach of either the Law or the employment contract.

That's pretty clear about what I should get. Maybe I should send this to HR

I guess you can do something regarding point 3.
But for point 7. I believe that the law requires that they provide a ticket back. As for the cost of shipping your belongings that would have to have been in your contract. You can still negotiate with the employer to see if they would be willing to pay at least half. My husband always has that clause in this contracts.

Bora Bora wrote:I guess you can do something regarding point 3.
But for point 7. I believe that the law requires that they provide a ticket back. As for the cost of shipping your belongings that would have to have been in your contract. You can still negotiate with the employer to see if they would be willing to pay at least half. My husband always has that clause in this contracts.

Bloody law talk, it's so hard to work out.

My contract says nothing about repatriation, and definitely nothing about repatriation in the case of premature contract termination (by them) so I'm assuming it goes by the UAE Labor Law, which mentions repatriation of the employee and their belongings, except where there contract says differently.

Might have to get Jo Law involved, but we'll see what the company offers first. Got a meeting next week with them.

check what type of contract you have, just because it is for 3 years it does not mean that it is a "fixed" contract. almost 99% of contracts issued are 3 years in duration, because thats how long your residency is valid for.

look on the contract for "limited" or "unlimited" this will determine what your benefits will be (limited means you would be entitled to the 3 months severance - actually only 1.5 months worth of salary the way they calculate it) (unlimited = normal "western" contract with 3 or 1 month notice period and NO termination benefits)

of course there's more to it than that, but it revolves around the limited/ unlimited issue

Thanks dbxsoul.

Just had another meeting. Even though my *COMPANY* contract is for 2 years, the proper contract (the green one in Arabic and English) has no end date and thus I am on an unlimited contract.

So all that nice stuff I read in the article linked above is null and void for me. Nice.

So I am entitled to nothing probably. But, the company has its reputation to uphold, and I have been informed that they have been instructed to 'treat terminated employees fairly' and 'uphold the company's reputation'. So maybe that means something.

While I would never be untruthful or vindictive, I would certainly tell of my plight should I be treated unfairly.

Can anyone please give me some feed back on what a redundancy package should consist of..?

many thanks

dbxsoul wrote:check what type of contract you have, just because it is for 3 years it does not mean that it is a "fixed" contract. almost 99% of contracts issued are 3 years in duration, because thats how long your residency is valid for.

look on the contract for "limited" or "unlimited" this will determine what your benefits will be (limited means you would be entitled to the 3 months severance - actually only 1.5 months worth of salary the way they calculate it) (unlimited = normal "western" contract with 3 or 1 month notice period and NO termination benefits)

of course there's more to it than that, but it revolves around the limited/ unlimited issue

How would they calculate the three months severance??

svenne wrote:How would they calculate the three months severance??

Gratuity is calculated on base salary, 21 days per year for less than 5 years, maybe less if employee resigns.

Compensation for arbitrary dismissal is calculated on base salary and up to max of 3 months.

I think dxbsoul is referring to the second.

muyesser wrote:Can anyone please give me some feed back on what a redundancy package should consist of..?

many thanks

Compensation up to 3 months of base salary or to end of contract (if less than 3 months) is what labour law says for arbitrary dismissal.

my company terminated me after 2.9 years service without any notice period. please feed back me for benifits the termination of unlimted employment contract in free zone?