Questions & Answers - Legal Advice Middle East

What to do if the employer reduces my notice period and threatens me?

Q: Hello lawyer, I am an Indian and have been facing a problem with my employer. I have signed a paper which says my notice is 3 months but when I came to the UAE, I signed a contract which says 1 month. I was new so didn’t understand at the 1st time as no copy of the contract was provided to me. Now I want to leave, I learned that my UAE contract which is submitted to MOHRE is of 1 month and I gave 1-month notice. The employer is forcing me to work for 3 months and called me to the office and was abusive and made religious comments and family comment and asked me to keep my mouth shut or he will show his power. I am scared, what to do?

Continuing judicial procedures of a bounced cheque case after leaving the UAE

Q: Dear All, Greetings, A company I made a business with issued me a cheque with insufficient funds and I reported the case to Dubai Police. Kindly be noted that the company license will end on 26/01/2021, so would I be able to file a civil case against the company to get my dues after that date? And what will happen if I or the issuer of the cheque leave UAE? Am I able to file a civil case from my home country? Thanks in Advance!

How to settle a bank loan properly from abroad

Q: Good morning, I have defaulted on a credit card/loan debt totaling 133.000 DHS for the last 15 months. I would like to clear this debt, but I am not sure of the best way to do so. My end of service gratuity would be mostly absorbed by this debt, but it has not been processed by my former employer, as they said that my resignation was not received or was received after the resignation window. They ordered me to return to work and I could not, so they terminated me for abandoning my job. My bank demanded full payments, but I could not maintain them at the time. After a few months, I received a notice with threats of a criminal case, so I did not return to the UAE to try to sort my out processing to receive my EOS. I received an email from a debt collection agency and want to know if it is best to try to negotiate affordable monthly payments through them or with the help of legal representation.

What happens if you default on the instalments of a purchased property?

Q: Dear Sir/Madam, I wanted some legal advice regarding my property issue. I have purchased a quarter share of a hotel room investment in a project in Dubai Marina. I have paid about 31% of the total purchase price. I have signed all the paperwork and obtained the partial property deed. Due to the Coronavirus, I am unable to continue to make the payments required. Now the developers are saying that by Dubai Law, they are allowed to keep 25% of the total purchase price from the monies I have paid. I want to know if there is any case law or discretion that the developers have to consider in circumstances such as mine where I want to complete the transaction but I am unable to due to not having a job and financially being able to complete the transaction. I am trying to sell the interest but at present cannot find a buyer. Please let me know what my legal rights are if the developer does keep the full 25% of the purchase price, do I have any legal remedies? Thank you Z.

Is it advisable to withdraw a labour case to cancel visa and avoid ban?

Q: I filed a labour case against employer for pending salaries and EOSB, and cancellation of visa. The complaint was transferred to the court now. I received the link and registered the case against the employer now, which will be heard after 12 days. My employer is asking me to sign the cancellation and collect my amount but I am not at all satisfied with their offer. My question is how can I answer them as the matter is in the court already? Any cancellation now needs to be done through the court, so please advise what shall I reply to them. Once the file is open, I need to wait for the judgement and then follow up for visa cancellation not before the case is done. If I do it before and listen to my employer what will the consequences be? Please advise.

How to sue the work manager for harassment and slander over the phone

Q: Good day, My manager has been shouting at me over the phone, insulting, harassing, bullying & slandering for 2 hours. All because I got very sick & sent her sick leave. I`m aware that it`s not allowed to record the phone conversation according to the UAE law & I was at home as I live alone & don`t have a witness on the moment of the phone conversation. Now the manager denies what`s mentioned above. What can I do in such a situation? Thank you

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Legal steps to claim gratuity from the company after two years contract

Q: My company has refused to pay me 2 years of gratuity. I am refusing to cancel my visa until the gratuity is paid. I was a consultant for 2 years, and though there is nothing explicit about gratuity payment in my contract, it is the labour law that it must be paid as I am on the company`s visa and was a full-time employee, though my actual title was `consultant`. A lawyer has already charged me AED 2000 to write an email and no result. Would like to go forward with the legal complaint.

How to recover the money of bounced cheques paid against business shares

Q: Hi I sold my shares in a restaurant business in Abu Dhabi for AED 600k, paid in post-dated cheques of AED 20k a month. The cheques are issued against the business itself, not the owner. The first AED100k were paid but starting Feb 2020, the owner stopped paying the cheques claiming the business was going bankrupt soon but the business is still operating and seems to have survived the COVID-19 situation. I need legal advice to get the owner to start paying the cheques. All the post-dated cheques are deposited in a bank but they are issued against another bank. The business is registered in Abu Dhabi.

Can I claim compensation from my company for a wrongful absconding case?

Q: My company filed an absconding case against me while I was in prison. This caused me to stay another 15 days. Can they not see I am in prison and not absconding? Can I file a libel case against my company and how much I can ask for compensation?

How to take a legal action against a company in the UAE for delayed dues

Q: I work for a company in Egypt and we had a contracted partnership with a company in the UAE. They haven`t paid us for a very long time. We invoiced them and they keep telling us that they`re settling some things and will wire us the delayed payment, but this has been going on for several months now and they are pretty much ignoring us. We`re thinking of taking legal action but would like to know how things are done in the UAE. Thank you!

The developer did not issue the title deed and mortgaged the unit to a bank

Q: I bought a property from a developer. We signed a sale and purchase agreement. The developer informed me that the title deed will be available by the end of the year. Now the developer is not issuing me a title deed and as per research, the title deed is submitted to the bank and the loan is taken on that by the developer. So I have two questions: 1. Is it legal to sell the property in Dubai even if this property is already mortgaged by the developer? 2. What case should I submit against the developer as they are not issuing my title deed? I have a SPA agreement and a written contract mentioned that the title deed would be delivered by the end of the year?

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Are there any criteria of work necessities to skip the annual leave of employee?

Q: Article 78 of the UAE Labour Law states: "The employee shall receive his basic pay in addition to housing allowance, if any, for the annual leave days. However, if the exigencies of work necessitate that the employee works during his annual leave in whole or in part, and the period of leave during which he has worked has not been carried forward to the next year, the employer ought to pay him his wage in addition to cash in lieu of leave for his working days based on his basic pay." Are there specific criteria needed for exigency to be established? E.g. in a professional service industry, will exigency only be established by the principal directly asking the employee to do that work during annual leave? Or will exigency be established by an official deadline regardless of explicit instructions by the principal to do the work? In the above scenario, the employee is the only person that may attend to the work and missing the official deadline will negatively affect the end client.

Is it recommended to file a case against previous employer after transferring visa?

Q: Good Evening I had been terminated recently but my employer is refusing to pay my outstanding salaries & End Of Service Benefits. I had raised a labour complaint that had been transferred to court. I have an appointment on 12th January 2021 with ENJAZ to file the case. Now I have another job offer and I must cancel my visa to obtain a new work permit within a short span of time else I will lose this job opportunity. So I am thinking to drop the case at the moment and grab a new job first. My question is that can I withdraw my complaint as the case is still not filed in court? If so, then what is the procedure? Secondly, can I raise the complaint again against the previous employer after I settle in the new job? Thank you

Is the broker eligible to take commission from the buyer of a property?

Q: I need assistance on the agent/broker commission. I had bought a property recently wherein I approached directly the sales office of the developer and booked one apartment. The developer has appointed an agent/broker from their side to handle the process. As per the SPA, the broker is eligible for an amount of 2% from the seller side. Now, after completion of the handover, the same broker is asking for 2% from my end. The property is bought directly from the developer and I am the primary owner (i.e. the property is not a resale property). Is the broker eligible to 2% commission on the property value again from the buyer when he has already been paid by the developer? The SPA does not mention any commission from the buyer, can the broker still insist on the commission? As a buyer, what rights do I have in this scenario?

Expatriates marriage in the UAE under the law of their country

Q: My fiancé is a French national & I am a Filipino national. We are looking into getting married here in the UAE. We don`t want to get married under the UAE courts and under Sharia law, if that is even an option for us, a church wedding is also out of the question. Can you please advise what other options we have to be able to get married in the UAE, and the steps of doing so?

Consequences of failing to reach a loan settlement with the bank

Q: I have a case in the UAE due to personal loans and not paying monthly instalments after job loss and other family issues. I went back to India in March 2019. The loan is not paid since Aug 2019 and I cleared all the dues on Jan 8th 2020. I informed the bank to withdraw the cases and allow me to come back to the UAE. At that time, they didn`t accept and informed me to go for a one-time settlement which I cannot. I tried several times to have an amicable settlement but they are not accepting. Now they come up with a solution of paying AED 25000 as down payment and the remaining AED 40000 in 20 instalments. Due to my current financial crisis, I am not able to pay this. Is there any other solution to sort out this matter? Another thing now, I got an offer in a Qatar-based company. Is there any problem That I will face while I`m trying to enter Qatar? Please help. I need to get out of these issues.