Q: Hello, A friend of mine is currently facing a situation with her employer for which I would really appreciate some advice. My friend basically gave her resignation papers. While serving her notice period, the company took away her company SIM card, Email access, files access, etc. after which my friend deleted WhatsApp from her phone. It contained company information and clients so she didn't want to have that WhatsApp on her personal phone since she's no longer supposed to have access to anything at this point. After deleting WhatsApp, the company is now making all sorts of allegations and they're holding her pay and passport. They even raised a MOHRE complaint against her for 5 different claims one of which is damaging property and some stuff like that. Now, they are basically telling her to give them back all that WhatsApp information then she can go, otherwise, they will sue her in court. My question is, is she obligated to give back those conversations from WhatsApp or not?

Q: Hi friends, Good day! One of our employees has given resignation. Soon after he resigned, we asked him to return the company assets given to him, however, while returning the mobile, he deleted all information and chat history. He also did factory settings on the mobile. Before the factory setting, he backed up all data on his personal phone. Please advise what remedy the company has against the employee for destroying company data & stealing customer information from the company mobile. Please advise!

Q: My husband was working in a private retail company before. While he was working with them, he helped a friend sell his friend's own designs of t-shirts through Facebook. His previous employer saw that and terminated him and they are accusing him that he is copying their designs and stealing customers by selling his friend's items while working which is not true. He threatened my husband that they will sue him and to avoid that, they're gonna remove him from work and will pay him only the days of his work (15 days) which my husband agreed because he doesn't want any trouble. That's what they did. They didn't pay him his gratuity for staying almost 3 yrs with them as well as airline ticket, vacation leave and public holidays. Now it's been a year since it happened and my husband is already working with another company and suddenly his previous employer saw him in a restaurant and asked him why he is there and threatened him that they are gonna sue him still. What do we need to do? Thank you.

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 UAE has had tremendous economic development over the last two decades, which can be attributed to the country’s expanding market and large inflow of investments. The demonstrated level of preparedness and equanimity is evident in the legislative framework, characterized by the ongoing and systematic updates of laws. This proactive approach aims to align the legal landscape with the dynamic trajectory of economic advancement, ensuring continual synchronization with the prevailing progress.

The provisions of this Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data, known as the "PDPL", govern Personal Data regulations in the United Arab Emirates