أسئلة وأجوبة
Forced confession by coercion
I was terminated from my company on the accusation of theft. My company said that they have a CCTV footage which they did not present during the committee meeting. There was no money or goods retrieved from me by my company security. They only have my admission.
Since they were telling me that they will send it to the police if I won't admit that happened on 19 March, the committee meeting which was supposed to investigate was held 2 days after.
My company kept me suspended until the 5th of April and handed me the termination letter, which states that I am terminated from the 19th of March.
What are my chances on this? I am so confused right now and I really need help.
If you haven't committed any crime, and you were intimidated and coerced to confess, then you can approach the Ministry of Labour and lodge a complaint. They will have to show a footage. From your statement, the company did not follow the required protocol of investigation under the UAE Labour law, viz.:
a) The employee has been notified in writing of the allegations against him;
b) The employee has been given an opportunity to comment on the allegations;
c) The employer has investigated any defence provided by the employee in respect of the allegations.
And the requirement above is recorded in the employee's personnel file, and the penalty noted at the bottom of the report. An employer must initiate the disciplinary procedure within 30 working days of discovering the misconduct, and any disciplinary sanction within 60 calendar days of the investigation having been concluded and the employee’s guilt established failing which the employee has been terminated arbitrarily and entitled to compensation.
With best regards,
Mrs. Khan
Dear Sir,
Please be advised that there are two possible cases here namely the labour case which you may file against your Employer to get your labour rights, which I assume the Company would not give it to you as it is most likely they has terminated your services in accordance to Art. 120.
Second is the Criminal Case that the Employer may file it against you for theft.
I have to state that It is very difficult to give you a proper legal advice as long as we did not have the chance to review the documents and more particularly the letter of admittance.
However, you have to be aware that the Employer's accusation is serious as you have admitted the crime and now you need to prove that you have made this confession under pressure and threatening.
Best Regards,
Aws M. Younis
