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: Hi I have logged a complaint against my employer yesterday because he refuses to pay my end of service benefits + 2.5 months' salary, neither is he willing to give me any post-dated cheques. After 48 hours, the legal team from the labour office will call us. I served my notice period with my last day being 6th Oct 2018. My question is, I have a new job and my joining date was supposed to be 7th Oct, now without cancellation, how do I go about my new job? My passport and ID are with my present employer.

Q: I have been working in a free zone company in Dubai for 14 months and I did not get my salary for more than 8 months. Every time I was asking for the salary, the employer tells me that he did not get payment from clients and he is still saying like that. Now, I sent the resignation letter due to the non-payment of salary, but the employer told me that I cannot resign and I need to finish my 3-year contract otherwise he will deduct the amount from my salary. I don't want to work for this company and also I have a good offer from another company. So, do I need to work for the employers? Will I get a ban?

An interview-format article covering the topic of filing an employment court case in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW.

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.

Three new ministerial decrees containing a new set of rules for the labour market were issued by the UAE Ministry of Labour last year and came into force on the 1st of January this year. The decrees are expected to alter the contractual relationship between employers and workers in the UAE.

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).