Questions & Answers
Employee's failure to report to work and filing a case for entitlements
An employee (driver) in my company failed to report to work on the agreed date after his leave days, then the director had to hire a driver for two days.
The employee never reported to work until now but the company had to pay to his account salary for two months.
Now, the driver went to a lawyer and they are requesting severance fee, illegal termination fee and salary in lieu of notice.
How is all this possible and yet the employee was not fired and he never called back?
Kindly help
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Thank you for getting in touch with me on this.
At the outset, please note that the conduct of your employee is unlawful and in contravention of the provisions of UAE Labour Law (Federal Law No. 8 of 1980).
As an Employer, you are entitled to take disciplinary actions (Article 102) and terminate your employee for absenteeism from work (Article 120).
You are not under any obligation to continue paying the employee and entertain the lawyer's notice.
Further, if the employee is absent from work for 7 working days, then you are entitled to make an absconding case against the employee and cancel his/her visa.
You may get in touch with me on 052-9495731 or hari@alnassaradvocates.com for further discussion or need assistance to respond to the lawyers notice.
Regards,
Hari Wadhwana
Dear Questioner,
Thank you for contacting.
Since your employee failed to report to the office even after the agreed leave for more than seven days, you should have lodged an absconding complaint.
Anyway, even if he moved any legal steps you can defend the same based on the salary transfer done from your end.
Please feel free to contact me on 0556635526 if you need any further explanation or clarifications in this regard.
Regards,
Anitha Rajeev.
Dear Questioner,
I strongly support the responses made by my learned colleagues. However, Please file an absconding in the ministry of labour at the earliest. Please send him notices to report to work and further not to worry about any labour case which he may file against you.
Thank You.
