Questions & Answers
Resignation during the probation period because of sexual harassment
Good day,
My name is Roy, and I'm a Filipino citizen working in Abu Dhabi western region as a massage therapist for 2 months now.
I have a limited contract, and I want to quit now due to the unhealthy environment here in the company.
This is because of the bad experience here with the management and the customers, and most customers here are forcing me to do bad things such as suck their private parts, massage their private parts, and so much more.
I cant take this anymore and I want to resign because this is traumatizing me in many ways emotionally and mentally.
How can I go without penalty? My manager and my boss don't let me go and they don't understand my fear and feelings please help
Please note that your question raises two separate subjects.
Employment Termination:
As per the UAE Labour Law and the regulations of Ministry of Labor, an employee who works less than one year for his employer and resigns, will face automatically a 6-month ban from Ministry of Labor.
Your employer has the right to request an extra 6-month ban on you because you have terminated the employment contract in less than one year.
However, they have no right to demand any compensation for the visa costs that they have paid to sponsor you.
This means that they will bear such big financial loss on their own and you will be banned from working under the Ministry of Labor Umbrella for at least 1 year.
The only way around this is to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from your employer to change you sponsor in case you were able to find another job.
Sexual Harassment:
What you have described in your message means that you are faced with several verbal sexual harassments and several physical attempts of sexual harassment as well from your customers visiting your workplace for the massage therapy.
At the same time, the same was communicated by you to your Manager/ Boss and they do not understand or believe you and they are not able to protect you.
In this case, I would advise you - for the next similar incident - to call the Police Department and file a complaint against the person who attempts such sexual harassment against you.
If your employer decides to fire you because of your incident, you can complain to Ministry of Labor as arbitrary dismissal and in this case, the ban will not apply.
let me know if I can be of any further help.
Best regards,
Ahmed Elnaggar
