UAE Legal Resources - Legal Advice Middle East

Are electronic transactions considered valid commitments?

Q: Hi, Could you please advise! Can commitments or agreements via electronic communications (emails) be considered as a binding agreement as per the UAE law? If yes, kindly provide the law clauses.

The responsibility of paying EOSB when a partner refuses to bear it

Q: Good Day, My partner and I have been 50/50 shareholders in a transport company for the last 35 years. Now we reached a stage where we can`t stand each other. I offered my partner that I will run the company for 2 years and agreed on remuneration to him with a fixed amount to be paid irrespective of profit or loss for 2 years i.e. 2018 and 2019. We both agreed. Now we are closing the company, or else, one of us buys the other share and we need to finalize on the payout. I informed my partner to be equally responsible for the employees resigned in 2018 & 2019 regarding the end of service benefits which he has refused saying that he was not in the company for these 2 years. Those employees have been working with us before we had this agreement. Please advise if he is responsible for their payments equally or not.

Getting a new visa from a new employer without canceling the old, expired one

Q: Hi, My friend had been working in a company for 2 years. Now, his visa got expired 1-2 weeks ago and he got an offer from another company. He wants to join the new company so he is requesting his old company to cancel his visa but the company is delaying. So is it possible to get a new visa from the new company without cancellation of the old visa as it is already expired?

The responsibility for paying the overstaying fine while being hired by a company

Q: Hi, I have been hired in a Freezone company last November 20, 2019. My visit visa will expire on 25 November 2019. As per my employer, they have already processed my residence visa and changing status so I will not be allowed to exit the country and just wait for the new visa release. Now, the month of January, they are asking me to pay 1500AED for overstaying. Do I need to pay for that? Is it my responsibility to pay while they have already hired me? Waiting for your response!

The calculation of wife and child maintenance

Q: Hi, My friend`s wife has filed a case for divorce. They`ve been married for a year and a half. They have a 9-month old son. The wife works and earns AED 5600. My friend earns AED 15000, but he got some bank loans which he pays off with AED 7000. How is wife and child maintenance going to be calculated?

Providing ex-wife with maintenance after she remarries

Q: A woman is divorced, then she marries another one. Would the ex-husband continue to provide housing, clothing, and food support (basics) to the wife and child/ren?

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I Have Not Been Paid By My Employer For 3 Months, What Should I Do?

An interview-format article covering the topic of employment in the UAE. This is from the legal podcast of lawyer Ludmila Yamalova, the founder of Lawgical with LYLAW. In this article, Ludmila informs readers what they should do and where they should go if they have not been paid by their employer.

Working without a valid visa and claiming labor rights

Q: Ma’am/sir, I just want to ask if we have a right to complain at the labor office. We are working on a company based in Business Bay, Dubai since October 2019. The employer asks us to work though we don`t have working visas. We agreed because he said he will process the visas before the end of the month as he needs to see if we are capable to do the job. After a month, he said he will process our visas since we are doing well. We’ve waited for a month then, suddenly, he said we need to wait for 3 months because we are still on a probationary period. So we keep on extending our visit visas. After 3 months, he said he will process it but till now we don`t have our visas. Most of my colleagues` visas are already expired and he didn’t give us our salary from last month. He doesn’t come to the office too and doesn’t reply to our messages. Can we still get our salaries from him or even fix our visas? Thank you in advance!

The responsibility of a partner in a limited liability company

Q: Hi Sir, I am a partner and I have a partner visa in one of the courier companies in Dubai. Currently, I stay outside Dubai in a GCC country, I hold a 25% share in the company. We are 4 partners; 2 inside Dubai and 2 outside. The company was established in 2019; it has been 1 year now and the partners in Dubai are showing a big loss. They took a loan from some investors without our concern and they have a big credit from the customers. They utilized the customers` money. Now, I need to get out of this mess as I was not involved and they were not sharing any updated records. Both Dubai partners are MD in the Memo. I am afraid to come to Dubai as they have asked me to leave my share after paying the loss they have to some other investors. I am afraid to come to Dubai to discuss as the company sponsor is in touch with them. They can put me in trouble in order to get my share. Please advise!

Settling a car loan in court to avoid collection agency harassment

Q: Hello, I had a car loan from a bank. The bank impounded it over 2 years ago. I tried to resolve it with the bank but I couldn`t. The bank sold the car, and I have never heard from them ever again. Now, a debt collection agency is calling me since December 2019 on behalf of the bank, claiming that I have to settle. The agents are RUDE and abusive; they call me a loser who can`t pay bills. I told them that I WILL NOT pay, have the bank return the car and I`ll be happy to deal with them or please proceed to file a case; I would rather deal with the court than the debt collection agency. They refused to listen to me and kept calling, harassing everyone in my office. They even called my mother and yelled. How do I deal with this? I do NOT want to pay a single cent to this agency. I want to deal with this situation in court. What`s your best advice on handling this and how can I report this kind of abuse? Thank You!

The overstay fine when the new visa is being processed

Q: My grace period will finish tomorrow because my new visa is still on process. If I overstay, what will happen?

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Claiming refund from a deceiving service provider

Q: I paid AED 15000 to avail services of a holiday service provider. Looks like the company is shut down now. I am not getting any responses. Is there any way to get the money back?

عدم تجديد العقد للاستغناء عن الخدمات والفصل التعسفي

س: أنا موظف من تاريخ ٢٠/١٢/٢٠١٧. قام صاحب العمل بالاستغناء عن خدماتي بحجة عدم الرغبة في تجديد العقد الذي ينتهي في ٢٠/١٢/٢٠٢٠. وهويتي وإقامتي تنتهي في 15/01/2020. تم إعطائي خطاب الفصل يوم 12/1/2020. هل يعتبر هذا فصلاً تعسفيًا؟

Doctrine of Economic Substance in the UAE

The introduction of the Doctrine in the UAE brings the UAE in line with other jurisdictions that have recently issued economic substance legislation and affirms the UAE’s commitment to addressing concerns around the shifting of profits derived from certain mobile business activities to “no or nominal tax jurisdictions” without corresponding local economic activities.

Terminating an employee due to misconduct

Q: Good morning, I gave an employee a notice last week that we will be closing the position and I gave him a notice period of 3 months. The employee refused to sign the notice letter stating that he will read it and get back to us on Sunday this week. In the letter, it is stated that he has to keep me informed of all activities regarding our business during the notice period. He must not make use of confidential information over the notice period as well. The employee has not kept in contact with his activities regarding clients and, yesterday, he walked into our client`s office and took copies of all our consignment stock agreements without informing me, the client sent me an email confirming this. What action can I take against this employee?

Claiming last month salary after signing the cancellation papers

Q: Good day, I resigned from my company with a 1-month notice until December 31, 2019. My company accepted my resignation but had requested me to extend working with them till January 28, 2020. I agreed but had asked my company to pay my end of service till Dec 31, even I`m still working, since I need to settle my loans before going back to my home country. They told me that my salary for January 1-28 will be given only once I complete my extension. I already signed the visa cancellation and work permit papers even I didn`t receive my remaining salary yet. My visa And work permit was already canceled on January 26. When I followed up for my 28 days salary with HR, they have no response and ignored me. I raised a complaint with the Ministry of labor. We have scheduled a hearing tomorrow Feb 1. What will I do if the employer did not appear on the scheduled hearing? Thank you!

Self-help