Q: Dear Sir, I need urgent legal help. I worked for a company for past 7 years in RAK. At the time of leaving the company, they did not provide me with my experience letter. When I exited to India, my new employer did not give me a new visa because I could not give experience letter. For 30 days, I was jobless in India. Then in a job portal, I found a job in another company in Sharjah, but it was a competitor to my previous company. I had no option, so I joined them to support my family. After 3 months of joining, my previous employer came to know, and now is threatening to file a case against me. I need to know the following: - What will be the consequences of the case? - Will be there any chance to win and continue to work for my new employer? - How much will it cost me financially so that I can plan accordingly? - And last, I would like to know the timeline required to have this case resolved. Shall wait for your response urgently. Ashley

Q: Dear Sir, I'm Satheesh from Abu Dhabi. For the past 3 years, I was working for a free zone company in Dubai. Our company have clients from both Dubai and Abu Dhabi and doing medical billing services for hospitals and medical centres. I was working with one of the company's clients which is a government hospital in Abu Dhabi (please note - govt is removing our company by Sept.). My concern is that the hospital is interested to recruit me as their employee. But I already signed a limited contract with my company which has "Non-competition non-solicitation agreement". My contract states that I cannot join their clients or competitors for 24 months after my visa expiry or end of service. If I violate this law they will take legal actions and they can ask for compensation (Law no. 8 of 1980 for UAE and Law no. 5 of 1985 for Dubai). My visa is expiring by Aug 25th, so I'd like to join there. Can I join this Abu Dhabi government hospital or not? If I join, is there any legal issue I have to face from my company?

Q: Hi, I'm Sanu from Abu Dhabi, my job is medical coding. I need a clarification regarding joining the client of my employer. I have completed 3 years with my current employer (Billing Services DMCC, Dubai). My 3-year contract was expired and cancelled. Now one of my previous employer clients (a government hospital) is approaching me to join with them. I have already signed a non-competition agreement which has a clause - I cannot join my employer own client for 2 years. Please note, currently, the contract between my previous employer and this government hospital has been cancelled. Please advise is there any exception that I can join with own client as it is government sector? Is there a chance my previous employer can make a case against me? If they raise a case then how to survive?

Q: I have a non-competition agreement signed with my previous company. Based on that, I cannot work in the same field or anything related. I was an office assistant but I was given a title as sales so the agreement can be effective on me. I want to know, will that agreement get me into trouble if I work with a competitor?

Q: My previous company filed a case in Dubai court, saying that as per my agreement with them I should not join the same field with a competitor of my previous company. In addition, they came to some amount and I got the news that they will file one case with more amount than the previous amount. So, is there any solution for this? How can I dismiss this case, as I have not done any crime?

Q: Hello, I would like to know if a non-competition clause also applies when starting a similar business in a niche industry. My non-competition clause is very vague and does not specify the area, industry and it's for 2 years. Does this hold up? And if it doesn't, could they file a civil case? Thank you!

Q: Employment non-competition evaluation. Employment contract section 11.

Q: Hi. The contract between a client and a company ended on 18 October 2018. Can the client employ me despite a restraint agreement between me and the former company?

Q: If an employee joins a competitor and has a non-competition clause, what are my rights?

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.

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).