Q: Dear Respected Lawyers, I am on management visa from Sharjah whose passport was denied by the employer after completing 13 months of service. They told me passport can't be given until my client in Iraq settles a business transaction dues the company did. Feeling insulted, I resigned on June 20th 2018 and stopped going to the office waiting for my Iraqi client to visit the UAE. Finally, the client came to Dubai on August 23rd and showed my employer his account where the client lost more than USD 700,000 because of the mismanagement of the project by the employer. The employer left the meeting room saying I will never get my passport or visa cancelled. He told if ever I report it to the Labor Department, I will be put into trouble through his contacts with senior police officials. Finally, I filed my labour complaint today for my visa cancellation. Kindly advise whom should I approach at Sharjah Court to file a petition for getting back my passport on an urgent basis. Humbly requesting your valued positive advice and assistance.

Q: Good day, My situation is that I submitted my resignation last October 5 effectivity same day, in hard copy. I also emailed it to my manager and sent it on WhatsApp to my boss and manager. They saw my resignation in WhatsApp but my manager doesn't accept my hard copy because he said that he doesn’t want to have problems. So, I messaged my boss through WhatsApp and he doesn't seem to care about it. They told me that I have to pay the visa cost before they give me my passport. I talked to the Labor Department and they said I should only pay my employer 45 days of my salary, and I am willing to pay the 45-day salary for resignation but my boss is asking to for the visa cost also. He said he knows his rights and I must pay more than just the 45 days salary. Please help me, I don't know what to do. I need to get back urgently to the Philippines.

Q: I recently ended up my contract with my employer because of a medical grounds. Actually, we don't have medical insurance, we are working 17 hours and I am not getting any assistance from the company. After submitting my resignation letter, my employer accepted it but requested me to leave the country then only after he will proceed with the cancellation. He finally agreed after a long period of negotiation. Now, the employment visa is cancelled and he forwarded me the residence cancellation where it's clearly mentioned that I have until 08 December grace period. I asked him to give me back my passport which he is keeping it since I started working for the company and he refused, saying that only on the 19th Jan in reference to my flight date which is 20th of January. In between, I received an offer with three times the salary I used to get and a lot of benefits including health insurance. As per the labour law, does he have the right to keep hold of my passport even after cancellation of my employment visa?

Q: Dear sir/madam, I have resigned within the probation period and my visa is cancelled by the company. Now, they have sent me an email stating: You can leave the country or change status upto 09-11-2022. You are required to send exit stamping in case you leave the country or visa copy in case you arrange visa for yourself. Do I need to submit the above documents?

Q: Hello, My employer doesn't pay my salary on time. I had personal problems, stress, and migraine. When I had to go to a hospital, I didn't have money for that so I took 2 days off after informing HR and the manager. The next day I managed to get money from friends and went to the hospital. After that, I took a medical certificate and urgent resignation letter because of mental stress. They asked me to pay for the visa so I can take my passport. Of course, I don't have money and didn't get 1 month's salary. Now they filed absconding against me. What should I do? And I was on a 6 months probation period. This thing happened after 3 months.

Q: Hi, I'm working in a private company in Dubai. I'm for 6 years with them, and I'm planning not to do the renewal. My contract ends on 27 May 2023 and my visa is until 23 June 2023. Which one should I follow, the contract end or the visa end? Which is the best month to render the notice period?

When an employee or employer mentions legal issues related to their labour relationship, the first question to be raised is: do you have a limited or unlimited labour contract? We try here to shed light on the relevant provisions of the limited and unlimited contracts in the UAE labour law pertaining to resignation, termination of employment, notice period and calculation of the end of service benefits.

An interview-format article covering the topic of employment contracts in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW. Ludmila discusses the aspects of limited and unlimited contracts, like the end of service, notice, arbitrary dismissal...etc.

The UAE has adopted a major reform in its legislative system that brought about 40 new laws and amendments to the company law, criminal law, personal status, among others. The amendments aim to develop the legislative structure in various sectors, the labor law being one of these, was the most recent. We try in this article to shed light on the changes introduced with the new labor law and their significance on both, the employer and employee.

The provisions of this Law, known as "UAE Labour Law", govern the relationship between employers and employees and other labour matters in the United Arab Emirates. There are special labour related regulations applicable in some of the free zones in the UAE.

This Decree sets the rules and conditions for the termination of fixed-term (limited) or unlimited (not term-bound) employment contract between employer and worker in the United Arab Emirates.

The provisions of this Decree-Law, known as "New UAE Labor Law", govern labour relations in the private sector of the United Arab Emirates. The New Labor Law repeals the previous UAE Labor Law (Federal Law No. (8) of 1980).