What the law says about unfair dismissals

It can be unfair when an employer decides to lay off an employee without any justification or reasonable grounds. Here are the steps you can take if the situation arises.

Arbitrary Dismissal

Being terminated by your organization can be quite stressful especially when there isn’t any valid justification provided. According to Article 122 of the UAE labor law “A worker’s service shall be deemed to be arbitrarily terminated by his or her employer if the reason for termination is irrelevant to the work”. This is applicable to a few situations

• Alleged poor performance: If the reason for termination is due to poor performance, the employer is obliged to legally provide prior notice or take lawful disciplinary actions before initiating the termination process.

• Forcefully Transferred: If an employer forcefully transfers or demotes an employee with lower pay, this is considered as unfair and illegal according to the ministry of labor.

• Coerced Resignation: An employer is not allowed to force an employee to resign by issuing threats or claiming performance related issues.

Compensation for Arbitrary Dismissal

An employee has the right to file a complaint to the ministry of labor if he or she feels that the grounds on which their termination took place was unjustified. The matter will be taken to court and a decision will be made based on facts and evidence. The court can then decide the compensation that would be given to the employee which does not exceed the amount equivalent to three months of the employee’s salary.

Legal disciplinary measures by an employer

The ministry of labor in the UAE has clearly dictated how a disciplinary procedure should be conducted. An employer has the right to impose legal penalties on its employees only if the following conditions below are met.

• The employee must be notified about the allegations made against him/her in writing.

• The employee is given the opportunity to defend the allegations.

• A thorough investigation is to be conducted by the employer into the defense provided by the employee.

If an employer fails to comply with any of these conditions, the final disciplinary penalty could be found by the Labour Courts to be unjustified, irrespective of the employee’s poor performance or conduct.